Answers of After
by Arinsword
Summary: Why did Acnologia become a final boss? Will Natsu and Lucy get together? I present my fanfic answering these questions, hope you enjoy. note it kind of continues where the main manga ends.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Deep in a forest an injured man glowered angrily. He had lost; he had lost to the son of Igneel and was wounded deeply in the fight. That was not all he was also in a weakened state. If he was discovered now by the brat again at this time and Igneel's son had already recovered he would surely be killed in the ensuing fight. He wished those remaining dragon slayers dead. He wished all humans, dragons and anything related to dragons dead. Unfortunately that included himself as well. He planned that as soon as he destroyed everything to take his own life to be with her once again. She had been the only one to offer him a shred of true kindness in his life, but she was taken from him by the very dragons he destroyed. He longed for her smile, her warmth, her light, her touch. Frustrated he stood painfully. He needed to move away from here the place he had stayed at and made his den for centuries.

If it had not been for those annoying flies Anna, and some sort of cockroach that flew a boat into him temporarily trapping him in a separate dement ion he might have won that fight. Igneel's son was deeply wounded probably from Zerif, but with the child of Grandeen's magic it was nothing he couldn't recover from. Yes, He Acnologia was put on disadvantageous playing field. Pests had poured out to fight him stalling his fight with the brat long enough to heal him and give him a bit of their magic. He lost shortly after that. He used the small amount of power that remained inside his body to fake his death and escape to heal. He knew that the trick might not fool the child forever, but it should last long enough for him to recover to full strength to fight again. At full strength he would have the power to slaughter Igneel's son, then he would move on to the rest of the dragon slayers, then to all of humanity.

Coming to a decision Acnologia started to move in a direction far away from the human towns and cities. Gathering his small shred of power he transformed into the black dragon of destruction and flew. Up on a nearby mountain a person stood transfixed at the sight of the black dragon. Instantly he knew he needed to tell someone what he had witnessed. He was but a simple hunter, he would have no power against the beast, but he had heard stories of those who could he needed to get word to the magic counsel as soon as possible. As the black dragon quickly left his sight the hunter turned and ran. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him towards his backwater village. He hoped someone would believe what he saw.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

At the guild Fairy Tail Natsu stood looking at the girl he loved. After the war had ended he couldn't move for a week, but he didn't mind. His house along with everyone else had been destroyed in the attack. The guild hall alone had only some minor damage. The guild members that could move repaired the guild to its former glory before moving onto the houses and shops of magnolia. People who had fled the country during the war were starting to file back in. The request board was full of requests to help in rebuilding towns, cities, and villages. Somehow he convinced Lucy to let him stay with her till he had the time to rebuild his home; he wanted to tell her privately how he felt, so he was waiting for the right moment. Her apartment was being rebuilt at the moment, and she would be able to go home at the end of the week. She was kind enough to agree to let him stay. Everyone in the guild that was alive was piled into all the rooms in the guild. Futons were laid out on floors, and everyone had to admit the Guild might be a nice place to hang around in, but it was not the best place to live in. As soon as a guild member's house had been built they had moved back into their home. This gave the other guild members more room to rest. Block by block Magnolia was coming back to life. As it had always been, though the church would have to wait till the mayor of magnolia returned with the blueprints. He foresaw the church being damaged and took the prints with him for safekeeping.

Fairy hills the girl's dorm had been under construction last week to get the majority of people a place to stay. Men were temporarily allowed to stay there until their own homes were built to lessen the burden on the guild. A few of the girls that Lived at fairy hills were going to move out of their soon for certain reasons. One example was Levy, during the war Gajeel had confessed he had fallen in love with the tiny girl and wanted to marry her and start a family of their own. Currently they were going on missions alone and acting like they were joined at the hip. He had even given Levy a silver ring he made himself with the word shrimp and a hart engraved inside. Natsu was envious of them. If only he had the guts to confess to Lucy like that then he could convince her to leave her apartment and move in with him. He wanted to have a bazillion kids with her and just plain have her near him for the rest of his life. For now he just had to settle for just living with her and hope he got the chance to tell her how he felt. He was even going to have a ring made for her, he would have one mad way better than the lugnut'z He wanted to have it made with gold like her hair and a hart shaped gem with leaves and vines twining around it. He knew as soon as he could move he could have his house done in a few days, but he wanted to hold off till he could convince Lucy to move in with him when he did. He decided that as soon as he convinced her he would build his house bigger with enough space for the family he wanted to start with her. He was just praying that she felt the same way.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Acnologia unsteadily descended towards the ground landing on a ledge overlooking a small stream. Further up the way there was a waterfall and a pool like area surrounded by cherry blossom trees. They were in bloom this time of year and floated down the stream. To Acnologia this place was special. It had taken not even two days to reach this place despite his slow and painful pacing. This was the area that his beloved one used to live in. After the first dragon king festival he had traveled here in her memory, but eventually found it too painful to stay. This place smelled like her, felt like her. She had been the only one he felt he could relax around and truly let down his guard. She had charmed him since the day he met her. She made any wounds he received better, and he could speak openly with her about anything that troubled him. He was only able to sleep soundly as she petted his head crooning at him softly. She had been the only one to treat him as a human when he was human and not as a possession or toy that could be disposed of at any time. He dozed off feeling calm for the first time in all the years since her passing. A dream of his past flickered through his mind.

A blurry image of two guards laughing and cursing at him filled his mind. Their kicks hurt his sides, and broke his bone as he coughed up blood and wheezed. A final kick sent him flying to the edge of the street against a wall. Finally satisfied with their torture of him they walked away continuing to laugh. As he lied their watching as people ignore him and walk by, he silently cursed them wishing for all of those wrenches to die in some hole. Suddenly a warm hand gently touched his cheek and a warm feeling washed over him as his injuries disappeared. Turning his head a little in the small hand he looked up at the stranger who was healing him. He was greeted with a gentle but bright smile. A small girl who looked to be around six with long brown hair and striking green eyes smiled down at him. Her next words left a hitch in his heart.

"Don't worry you'll feel better really soon, Ok?" she said in an almost musical tone.

After a moment he slowly sat up eying the small girl curiously. Her face was round, but he could pick out a slight tear drop shape to it and she wore a creamy white silk dress. Around her neck was a black leather band that had a blue stone that looked like it was glowing like the moon. A matching stone adorned her forehead dangling there. No commoner could wear such gems she had to be a noble.

"What is your name?" she asked with her pretty bell like voice.

"Acnologia." He said averting his eyes quickly. His cheeks he could feel starting to burn bright red despite his dark colored skin.

"My name is…"

Acnologia's eyes flashed open awake once more. He could hear something coming. It sounded vaguely like wing beats of a dragon. He knew it was impossible for it to be so. He had killed them all already Igneel had been the last, yet here he was hearing a dragon's wings. Painfully he moved behind a nearby tree out of the line of sight and waited. Soon a white dragon spiraled down to land. It was tiny about a third the size of his dragon form. Its scales glittered and shimmered a slight rainbow like a pearl. A brown main swirled around wildly in the wind. Delicate bat like wings slowly folded as it touched down delicately. A pair of finlike ears adorned the side of its head making it appear to be a little aquatic like. And matching the body a small pair of horns like a gazelle's sprung from its head. It looked for some reason rather downcast. A breeze suddenly blew by and Acnologia cursed silently as it carried his scent towards the dragon. He watched as its head suddenly jerked up catching his scent. It turned it's very narrow and sharp face in his direction and gave off a crooning noise that sounded welcoming. It felt painful for him to hear. It reminded him too much of her voice a bit older and more mature, but still like hers. While hers had sounded like a bell this dragon's sounded like a cross between a flute and a harp. He knew immediately the only way to make the painful feeling go away would be to put an end to the beast. He moved quickly as he could and stalked closer to the tiny dragon as it continued to call out. When he got within striking distance he took note that the dragon whore some sort of gem between its eyes, he also noted that its eyes seemed familiar somehow. He came out into the open. The dragon noticing him turned his way. He bunched his muscles and darted forward to make a strike.

"Lolo." The dragon called out in a joyous tone.

Startled Acnologia stopped suddenly which landed him on his back. How had the beast known his name let alone his nickname? The small dragon hurriedly approached him and started to nuzzle his cheek affectionately.

"How do you know that name?" He asked it eyeing it suspiciously sitting up all thoughts of attacking forgotten at the moment.

"Because…" the dragon answered as it started to glow. Its body then shifted down to a humanoid form. "I gave you that nickname silly." A now pretty woman said in front of him.

Acnologia's breath caught in his throat. His pain forgotten he pushed himself up and barreled into her. He clung to her like she would disappear in a moment tears and sobs racketing his body. The woman wrapped her own arms around him breathing in his scent deeply. He stepped back a moment using his only hand to cup her cheek raising her head. His eyes half lidded he spoke.

"Arra…" he said pressing his lips to hers kissing deeply. His most loved was at his side once again. This time he would never let her go.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Natsu waited patiently as Lucy got out her new set of keys for her apartment. In the week that he had rested he could now at least move around with someone helping him, and he really didn't mind that the person helping him was Lucy. It gave him the perfect excuse to be extremely close to her without her complaining. Happy made a ploy and was spending some time with Carla and Wendy at Fairy Hills to give him a chance to confess to Lucy alone. Not that he really had the nerve to do it at the moment. He also was having some issues coming to terms with the fact he was both the most evil wizard in existence's brother and a demon that was brought back from the dead. He knew that the latter two he couldn't do anything about, but he at least wanted to do something with the first issue and for that he needed to get his act together and tell her. Lucy helped him into the apartment kicking the door closed behind her and took him over to the sofa and sat him down. When she moved to head towards the kitchen he grabbed her arm.

"Wait Luce, I need to talk to you about something."

She turned back towards him sat down next to him, then leaned forward a little looking at him sideways with a slight blush and a smile. Ok, He just lost his nerve to tell her he liked her. So the next best thing he could talk to her about was his feelings about his brother and being a demon and how worried he was when he told the rest of the guild. Lucy then just hugged him with a smile and told him everything would be alright. He inhaled her sweet scent that always smelled so soothing. He almost wined out loud when she let go and went to get up. He mentally scolded himself for backing down, and tried to work up the nerve to tell her what he really wanted to tell her. He also notices an uncomfortable tightening in his nether region. He waited watching her in the kitchen as she made something for them to eat. As the smells drifted towards him his stomach let out a loud rumble. Without looking Lucy let out a laugh and told him food was coming in a few more minutes. As soon as he was done eating Lucy offered to help him into the bathroom so he could take a hot bath. He felt he could really use one right about then, it would feel great on his sore muscles.

"Yeah."

"Ok,…Would you like me to give you a massage after your out?"

Natsu looked at her, thought about it, then with his usual impish grin said "yep."

Natsu had to admit the way her hands moved across his back felt amazing. He kind of wished he could get her to do that in other places on his body too. He felt himself harden a little at the thought pressing into her bed. He was acutely aware of how she felt straddling him to work out all the knots. Finally one of his muscles in his shoulders gave a loud crack and he went limp. A loud snore could be heard in the room. Lucy gave a small giggle pulling the covers over him then went to shower and get ready for bed herself. She wondered when the idiot would get a clue and realize she liked him already. She had been trying to get over him in that scène for years now to no avail. She knew he just didn't seem interested in her, and to her she knew it would hurt when the pink idiot finally found someone he did like, but like a good friend she would accept his choices in life. She gently stroked his hair out of his eyes then went to sleep on the other side of the bed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Acnologia woke up feeling the warmth of both his beloved ones healing and the warmth of her body as he had his arm around her waist. He made a content woofling sound and nuzzled her stomach contently. He inhaled her scent deeply. Arra had been healing him for the past five days when he wasn't busy forcing her to sleep curled next to him, or when he wasn't distracting her with deep kisses. To say the least the healing process was taking far longer than it should have if he just let her work, but Arra couldn't blame him.

She after reviving thanks to her powers had taken a long time to fully heal herself from the injuries on the day they were separated. She had traveled to her homeland to wait for him shortly after not knowing that he had already left the pain of her loss too much for him to handle. Her magic told her he was alive and to her that was all that mattered. So in the end she had waited here for all the centuries that passed waiting for him to return to her. She had been lonely alone, but knowing he might one day come made her stay, and her patience had paid off. Now she had him almost fully healed all that was left to heal was his arm. She had an extremely powerful healing magic that could easily regenerate lost limbs, but the tradeoff was it was extremely painful. Arra stroked his head affectionately pet his head. Soon a deep rumbling snore could be heard as her Lolo relaxed under her touch. Any day now he would ask her get over the feelings of their reunion and finally notice her ears and ask about how she could turn into a dragon. Of course this had to do with something she had already mentioned to him about being a Halfling. Halflings were what beings that had one parent that was elven and one parent of a different race were called. Her mother had been the queen of the elven race before it had been destroyed a few years before she had met him. Thanks to her dying father Arra alone had been the survivor. Her biological father was _The Dragon of Dement ions and Time_ which gave Arra her ability to transform into a dragon and use dragon magic energy as well. Her mother was not only the queen of the elven but also a dependent of the _Goddess of Life Nihala._ Thanks to Arra inheriting the powers of Nihala which had skipped a few generations she was given the ability to revive as long as her body was not burned to ash making her almost immortal. The only way of her dying would be being cremated after she was killed or her dying of old age.

Acnologia stirred in his sleep. Arra wondered fondly if he remembered the promise they made for after they were both grown. She would ask him after she did the last of his healing when he woke up. She needed to let him know about how she was going to restore his arm.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Natsu peeked next to him once more. It was the crack of dawn and he had just woken up. Lucy was a small distance away from him within reaching distance. He just had to reach out and he could have her in his arms easily. It was making him frustrated that he couldn't decide to go through with it or not before trying to go back to sleep. He heard her stir and groan then she shifted in her sleep. When she had stopped moving Natsu was pleasantly surprised to find he didn't need to think about it anymore. Her turning had resulted in her being snuggled up to him facing him. Attentively he reached his arms around her drawing her closer. Her hands curled into fists against him. She mumbled something inaudible with a smile on her face. Evidently she was having a good dream. Content with where he had her he placed his cheek against her head and drifted back to sleep.

Lucy was dreaming contently she could feel a smile spread on her face. It was a simple dream. Some guys were trying to pick her up and she didn't like it. She protested and turned around only to run into a big warm body. Looking up she found Natsu's face. He gave her his usual boyish grin that melted her heart, then cocking his head to the side he spoke.

"Come on Luce, let's go on an adventure."

Suddenly the scenery changed. They were at the altar of Kardia Cathedral in Magnolia and Natsu was in a white suite. Embarrassed she looked down only to realize that she was wearing a wedding dress. Her eyes widened in confusion. Natsu's hand grabbed her chin tilting it up to his face.

"I love you." He said against her lips seconds before they could touch and her eyes flew open with a start. It took her a moment to realize where she was. Her eyes went big as she noticed Natsu's hard chiseled abs that could make any girl drool an ocean in front of her. She then noticed his arms wrapped around her and one of his legs was thrown over top of hers. She wiggled to get out of his grip. Natsu pulled her in tighter and she struggled a little more adamantly. In his sleep Natsu made woofling sounds and let out a few territorial growls. He then nibbled on her ear making her blush furiously and said mine. Lucy managed to tear herself from his grip shoving her pillow in her place as she left the bed. He then moved and hugged the pillow curling up into a ball around it and chewed on the corner making what suspiciously sounded like purring.

Blushing Lucy gripped the ear he had nibbled on. She felt ridiculous for thinking even for a moment that he had been having a more romantic dream. To her it looked like he was dreaming about eating something with the way he was biting at her pillow. She walked quietly into her bathroom silently cursing herself. To think that _Lucky Lady Lucy Heartfilia_ would be jealous of food right now. She seriously needed to find a way to get over him or at least away from him for a few hours to clear her head. After her shower she got dressed and headed for the kitchen looking into the fridge she noticed she was running low on ingredients. She walked over to her kitchen counter and grabbed a paper and pen. Walking back to the fridge she wrote down all the food she would need to keep the poor injured temporary roommate of hers well fed. She then went to her cupboards and wrote the non-refrigerated foods she would need down. Finally she started making breakfast.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Acnologia woke pleasantly from his sleep. With his devilish grin he playfully growled at the beautiful woman he was curled up to. She giggled in response and leaned down to nuzzle him giving him a butterfly kiss with her long eyelashes. He wined in protest as she moved to sit up once more. He felt great compared to what he felt even before he had lost his arm to Igneel. He may never get his arm back, but he had recovered the one person that made his life worthwhile. Now that he had the chance he studied her. She was older than he remembered, but that was a given since they had separated when they were technically still children, The only two features that had changed about her were her eyes and her ears. The small girl in his memory had the same big green striking eyes, but what they didn't have was a black serpent like slit in the center, and her ears in his memory was that of a human's not long like they were now. Her power was a change as well; he didn't remember her ever changing forms back then. A confused expression crossed his face.

"What's wrong?"

"Your ears and eyes are a little different then I remember, and why can you take the form of a dragon, your power feels nothing like that of dragons or dragon slayers?"

"Oh, you mean I appeared like this." Arra said touching the gem on her head and giving it a small amount of magic. In a moment her eyes no longer had slits, and her ears were once again that of a human. "And as for the last part of your question, I already told you once before that I was a Halfling remember?"

"What does having two different parents from different countries have to do with anything?" He asked confused.

"I see now, your definition and my definition of Halfling are different." She said with a giggle. "Halfling to me means the child between one of the elven and another race. Yours is another name for a half blood meaning a person born of two countries."

"An elven and another race?" Acnologia thought for a moment his eyes trailed back to her ears which had returned to normal now that the stone was once again without power. After a moment of staring at them he seemed to come to a realization and his eyes enlarged slightly. He sat up and turned to face her.

"You're really part elf?! I thought Elves were just stories old entertainers made up."

"Mmhmm." She responded with a smile. "The reason for my transformative properties is related to whom my father is."

"Who is he?" He asked curiously.

"He was a dragon called _The Dragon of Dementions and Time_ _Retoricobliq_ , and yes his name is strange, but I guess that's just how dragons got named back when he was born. He passed on the same year we were separated, his old age finally got to him."

Acnologia stared for a moment as her words sunk in. He took a deep breath looking her in the eyes. "I blamed the entire dragon race for your death back then; I'm responsible for the race's annihilation." He finished what he said and closed his eyes waiting his muscles tensing up. He waited for shouting in disgust, or for her to strike him in anger. He had annihilated creatures that where part of her after all. He waited for a blow that never came, instead he was held close. As her arms wrapped around him his eyes opened in surprise.

"Why?"

"Dragons are the ones who made me the last elven in existence, though I loved my father I despised other dragons for quite some time after. My father then told me something that helped me accept my dragon heritage. He told me there will always be one or two exceptions to a race either positive or negative. For the dragons they would devour those weaker, and destroy what was threatening. What drive a dragon's actions are their instincts. He told me it was fine to despise the dragons that took my mother, but love at the same time the heritage that brought me into the world; he was just an exception to his race nothing more. So I should just love that I came from him and my mother and that they loved me in return."

"I still don't understand, why aren't you angry, I killed a race that is part of you, why don't you hate me for it, or are at least angry at me?"

"It's no different then what I felt for my father. To hate all dragons would mean I would have to hate both my father and the half of me that is dragon. To hate you for destroying the dragons out of the pain you felt for me would be saying it wasn't fine for you to care for me as much as I love you."

Arra cupped her hands around his face and placed her forehead against his. Acnologia moved his hand on top of one of hers. Guilt still evident in his face, but he did seem a little better than before.

"Please, think of some way I can make amends to you in some way." The pain of his guilt towards her still evident in his voice.

Arra leaned into him and gave him a kiss. "Alright, you're going to let me finish healing you no interruptions, and no questions asked. I'll warn you though it will hurt quite a lot when I do it, Ok?"

Acnologia nodded acceptingly.

"Alright, for starters you're too tense right now before I can perform the healing I need you to be relaxed and loose. First take off your cloak and turn onto your stomach."

Acnologia did as she asked as her hands started to move gently across his stiff back loosening him. He let out a rumbling purr as each knot left his body. Soon he started to tighten up in a different area it wasn't so uncomfortable at first, but it got worse the longer she moved her hands. He shifted underneath her to try to relieve it. Noticing his tension Arra peeked around at his face. With a coy smile she lifted herself up enough he could move and asked him to turn over. He did as he was told. To his surprise she settled on top of him again then started to take off her clothes. His eyes widened at the sight.

"What…why…?"

"I told you Lolo, I need you relaxed all the knots are out, but you started to tense up again. And I'm guessing it's from here." She said as she moved her hand gently over his now hard lower member making him groan and coil tighter from the touch. She giggled at him leaning down and kissing his stomach. His hand dug into the hard stone beneath them leaving gouges in its wake. Arra playfully teased him slowly kissing her way up to his face and using her tongue to lick his skin. At his neck she bit him and growled a little possessively. She moved on to his ears nibbling and licking them giving him adorable purrs to drive him mad. Acnologia had enough at that point. The coil she tightened in him was almost ready to snap. He spun her around so she was on her back bringing a squeak of surprise from her lips. In the same movement he kicked off his pants and anything that would obstruct him and stripped off her undergarments. With a predatory grin and growl he settled down on the smaller woman. He was going to have so much fun with this.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Natsu's first thought was soft, his second was too soft, and his third was this isn't the same soft as Lucy. Reluctantly he cracked open his eyes to see what he was holding. It took a few seconds to realize he had her pillow in his arms and he was chewing and sucking on it like it was a pacifier. He released it sticking out his tongue with distaste. In the dream he was having earlier he had been nibbling and sucking on Lucy's ear making her giggle and squeal happily as he held her close. He glanced over at the bathroom door and seeing it was open he knew she wasn't there. A clank coming from the kitchen and the smell of food finally reaching his nose gave way her location. Slowly he sat up on the bed and stretched. Surprisingly he didn't feel as sore today, at least not so bad that it would prevent him from moving on his own. Tentatively he slipped out of the bed and slowly made his way to the kitchen where Lucy was busy making French Toast with eggs and Bacon. She had apparently finished with both the French Toast and Bacon, and was now cooking a huge plait of eggs. She was so focused on cooking she didn't notice him until he walked up behind her and placed his arms around her neck in a hug. She jumped in surprise, but after realizing it was him focused back on the egg she was working on. He let out a relaxed sigh before speaking.

"Thanks for what you did last night Luce, I feel so much better today." Of course he meant for both the massage and snuggling up so close to him, but what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her, or him for that matter. "Can you do it again for me tonight too?"

"You're welcome Natsu, and sure. Though I didn't think one massage would have you up and moving so well today."

"I didn't think I would be able to move so well today either. I guess you're the perfect cure for when I'm too hurt to move." He joked with a grin causing her to blush then swat him on the arm lightly.

"Hey listen, I'm going to head to the store after breakfast and pick up some things, do you want anything I don't have on the list?"

Natsu thought for a moment before asking where the list was so he could have a look.

"Can you get me some peppers and Booze or something to drink?" he asked tentatively.

"Sure." Lucy answered taking the list back from him and writing them on it. She then turned off the burner and moved the plait of eggs to the table.

They both sat down and ate chatting about how some of the residents who returned had asked about if some improvements could be done to their homes while they were building back the town. Everything needed to be rebuilt from scratch anyway, so it had been arranged. Most of the residents had asked for some additions for another child on the way, or for a guest room for family. This gave Natsu the perfect opportunity to bring up his own home.

"I was thinking of doing something similar to my house too."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but I guess you need a blueprint, or something for that. Do you think you could help me draw one up Luce?"

Lucy blinked for a moment taken back by what he was asking. But then smiled and agreed to help. They finished their meal with Natsu scarfing down his platters full ending with Natsu giving a loud satisfied belch. As he sat contently digesting his food he watched Lucy gather up the dishes and wash and dry them placing them back into the cupboard they belonged in. He thought for a moment on what he could do without moving too much then had an idea.

"Hey Luce do you have a fishing rod anywhere?"

She thought for a moment. "Yeah I think I have a small traveling rod somewhere, thinking of going fishing?"

"Yep, at that pond just outside of the town it's quiet there and it didn't get hit by Acnologia or the empire.

Lucy tapped her chin thoughtfully. "How would you like if I grab Happy and meet you out their later for a picnic in the afternoon? I can bring some paper and a pen and work out your building plan there. By the way I forgot to mention before, but the council said that as a reward for defeating Acnologia and Zerif you won't need to worry about the cost of building it."

"That sounds great Luce!" he said giving her a big grin.

"Don't thank me yet till I finished giving you a hand." She said going over to one of her closets and rummaging around for the fishing rod and the fold up fishing basket. Getting it out she handed it to him grabbed the list and her purse.

"See you at noon, and think about what you want for your new house while you're at it. Start with what you need first then go for what you want to do in the new rooms, and then last the bonus spaces you want, Ok?"

"Sure, see ya." He said as she went out the door he then got up to head to the lake.

Well, he may not be able to confess to her face, but at least he might be able to trick her into building the sort of house she could stand living in with him Natsu thought to himself. Maybe Happy could give him a pep talk so he would be able to tell her he liked her. Ten minutes later he flung the line into the water. For him he didn't really need to think about what he needed. All he needed from the house was a place to sleep, a place to go to the bathroom, and a place to eat. He could make do out in the open if he needed to, but he knew something like that wouldn't cut it for Lucy, she was used to big fancy things after all. Rather than thinking what she would want he could only think about what she wouldn't. Lucy didn't like messes, feeling dirty, she didn't like when someone interrupted her when she was writing, or reading what she was writing before she was finished, she also didn't like when people wrecked her things. Well, that was easy. She needed a house with place to work on her story in peace, easy to clean and keep clean, and not easily damaged or breakable. Another thought occurred to him, how many kids would she want? He wanted like ten or twenty, but how many would she be willing to have? He thought back to what Bisca had said about a girl having a kid.

"When a woman has a kid she risks her life."

Natsu didn't know what that meant, but he guessed every time a woman has a baby they went into some battle alone with a lot of enemies. It must be some sort of tradition like Christmas or the Fantasia Festival. Maybe he could convince her to skip that tradition or at least take him with her. He looked up at the sun and sighed, another three and half hours to go.

Lucy's first stop was to the guild hall to find Happy. She really didn't want to go into the guild hall to find him. If she told him about it there someone would overhear and soon the whole guild would be at the lake joining in for a guild wide picnic. Luck would have it she ran into the little exceed right outside. She wasn't called Lucky Lady Lucy Heartfilia for nothing after all. Happy agreed to meet at the lake at noon rather excitedly when Lucy promised to make a few raw fish sandwiches for him. She said goodbye as he flew through the guild doors then traveled to the shopping district. It had been the first place to be restored in the town, after all no one could live without being able to buy food or new cloths. There was also the income the vendor stalls provided to the port town aiding in its reconstruction. Lucy's first stop was to the butcher where she purchased some turkey, ham, and sausage for her picnic sandwiches. She then purchased some larger quantities of meat to be delivered to her residence at around four. Next she visited the baker and purchased five loaves of bread. With the way Natsu ate she might even need to purchase five a day. Last she visited the Market where she got eggs, three bottles of milk, vegetables, three fish for Happy's sandwiches, and fruits. When at the vegetable seller's stall she made sure to pick up extra peppers. She then headed towards the more ritzy section of the shopping district.

She remembered a small store that had been in an alleyway that sold inexpensive but rather high class tasting alcohol. In fact it might be the one alcoholic place Cana didn't know about considering it was placed between a baby store and a wedding planners and bridal shop. Those personally were probably the drunkard card mage's biggest repellent to the area. Going past the wedding and bridal shop Lucy noticed a new bridal dress in the window. She looked at it wistfully before going into the alley to the alcohol store. Her brief look at the dress however didn't go unnoticed however because a certain person had been shopping and happened to spot her from the other side of the street. She couldn't wait to tell the rest of the guild what she had seen. Anybody could tell the blond mage wished someone would ask her to be their special someone someday and take her down the aisle.

Lucy like the other stores and vendors made sure to make arrangements to have the larger quantities of food and beers brought to her home around four. The beer would survive being set next to the fridge and they could put a few in to keep it cool to drink. Lucy had also picked up three bottles of a particular brandy she liked and took one case of brandy with her. It was one of the few that didn't leave her loopy when she drunk it and it had a creamy fruity aftertaste with a bit of fizz. She then went towards home. On the way she saw an amazingly cute dress in a window display unlike most of the cloths she owned this dress covered most of the wearer's skin. It was a cream colored white lace dress knee length in the front, but reached her ankles in the back. The ruffled design accentuated not only the size of her breasts, but put more definition on her amazing figure. It at least gave her a ten percent chance of standing on par with Mira and Erza in a fight of looks. She liked it a lot so she bought it and a matching white lace sun hat with a shimmery, silverish, pink ribbon. It would work great in the Miss Fairy Tail contest taking place at the end of the year. She would need to go shoe shopping before then and find some shoes to match.

At her home she used all the meat to make the Sandwiches. She made two Ham and turkey for herself, three fish sandwiches for Happy, and the Rest was all Natsu's. She placed the Sandwiches into her biggest picnic basket along with her case of booze and a bottle of the brandy she liked with a pair of glasses. She also took a bottle of milk and cup for Happy. Looking at the time she saw how close it was to noon and raced to find her picnic blanket before grabbing the blanket and racing out.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Acnologia hummed happily into the hair of his woman. Even though he normally didn't tire easily in fights he was breathing heavily. What he had done with Arra had left him breathless and content. Arra was currently tracing the shapes of his abs snuggled contently in the crook of his good arm. Her body was stretched and pressed to the length of his. She finally sat up and looked at him lovingly.

"Ready for me to finish healing you?"

"I think you already did. I feel great right now, in fact better than I have in years."

Arra shook her head and tapped his bad arm with her finger. He looked at her confused.

"It's impossible to heal something that isn't there anymore, so what do you mean by my left arm? Is there something else wrong with it?"

Arra rolled her eyes. "Did you forget what I told you about my power? I inherited my healing ability from my mother's side and when you combine the power of _The Dragon of Dementions and Time_ with _the power of Goddess of Life Nihala_ you can heal anything and everything you want."

Acnologia looked at her as if she sprouted a second head.

"You can restore missing limbs?"

"Mmhmm."

"Seriously?"

"Yep, but remember when I said it was going to hurt? That's the tradeoff of getting something that is usually impossible to bring back, back."

"Alright, if it's going to hurt no matter what, it's better to get it done sooner than later."

He watched Arra take a deep breath then begin the spell. For a moment it felt warm, then felt as if it was burning in lava. He could put up with a constant burning sensation it felt no different than his battle against the child fire dragon slayer. Then he felt the true pain as the spell took effect. Bones, muscles, tissue, blood all felt like it crushed in on itself only to expand and repeat endlessly. Hours of the endless pain went by, but to him it seemed like years. Finally it ended and a warm soothing feeling took its place. He took a deep breath in realizing at some point he had held his breath. Tentatively he raised his good arm and reached out to Arra. She took his hand in hers. He peeked down towards his missing limb only to find it once again there. Focusing on it he moved one finger then another. He then lifted the whole hand turning and flexing it in place the only sign that the arm had been gone for any point in time was a scar that ringed around like his gold armband. A small smile spread across his face. He gripped his beloved hands tighter, then yanked her on top of him using his newly restored arm to pin her to his chest. Acnologia then nuzzled her neck and nipped her playfully causing her to squeal. This incredibly powerful dragoness woman was the only one with the true right to stand as his mate, and he wanted nothing more than to make her realize just that. The day was only half over after all; He would spend the rest of the time showing her just how important she was.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Natsu let out a bored breath he had caught ten fish already and it still wasn't noon yet.

"Natsuuu…" a blue exceed yelled behind him in a friendly manner.

Turning he saw his little buddy and his face lit up.

"Happy, I was wondering when you'd get here."

"Aye, I made sure to get here fifteen minutes early can't let a yummy fish go to waste after all. So Natsu, did you ask her yet?"

A dark frustrated shadow crossed the dragon slayer's face.

"Not yet huh?..." Happy said with sympathy.

" It's not like I don't want too, it's just when I get the chance I chicken out and can't ask her what I really want to."

"Maybe you just need to show her what you feel rather than trying to tell her? If that doesn't work you could always try doing both." He suggested helpfully.

Natsu thought for a moment. A small smile spread across his face which was soon replaced by a look of horror as the exceed then stated " If you still can't do either of those I'll just ask everyone in the guild help you marry her."

Before he could retort he heard someone breathing heavy as they rushed towards them. Turning he saw his blond Celestial mage partner running up her face slightly flushed.

"So…Sorry…Sorry I'm late." She huffed tiredly.

After catching her breath she started setting up the picnic. Natsu reeled in his last catch before getting up to see if he could help, but as soon as he caught it he found she was already done and settling on the blanket dishing out the sandwiches. Happy had already settled to the side opposite of hers and was eating his three whole fish sandwiches as she poured some milk into a cup for him. Natsu settled down next to her and she immediately went to get his sandwiches placed on a plate, and handed him to him. She then brought out an entire case of booze and placed it in front of him before grabbing her own food and drink. He heartily dug into his food. He caught a whiff of alcohol coming from Lucy's direction and peeked over. He watched as she took some sips of what appeared to be brandy with a slightly flushed face. Remembering what she got to be like when drunk, Natsu skeptically and fearfully asked if she was doing alright. The response he got was unexpected to say the least.

"I'm perfectly fine; believe it or not this is one of the few brands I can handle that don't leave me loopy and unable to remember what happened the next morning. Here wana try?" She said offering him her glass.

"Sure he said gingerly tilting the glass she held. The second it touched his tongue he tasted a creamy fruity flavor with a bit of fizz that left a pleasant fuzziness behind. He quickly swallowed the remainder of her drink before she could protest. Lucy then gave a sigh that clearly said she had been expecting him to do something like that.

"Good thing I brought a second glass."

Lucy refilled her glass and poured a second one for him. They then clinked their glasses together and drank. For the next few hours they chatted with Happy about what had been happening at the guild hall earlier that morning. Apparently Elfman and Evergreen had decided to come out in the open that they were dating which while was already well known had shocked his big sister Mira into tears. Lucy had heard from Lisanna about Mira's thoughts on the two back when they faked to throw her off on Tenrou Island. After that brief conversation was over Lucy brought out a pen and paper as Natsu broke into the booze she brought for him.

"Ok, so what do you guys need for your expanded home?"

"Fish." Happy said enthusiastically.

"Ah, Happy, I don't think fish is necessary for a home other than going in a fridge to eat."

Happy pouted as Natsu laughed at his plight.

"I know I need a bedroom, a kitchen, and a bathroom. The rest is all what I want rather than what I need."

"Alright, that's a start, but would you like to go big since you don't have to worry about the bill, or keep it simple."

"Mmm, can I decide that later after we finish putting together everything that I want in it Lucy?" he asked.

"Sure. Ok so what do you want to do in the house?"

"Eat fish and sleep." Happy piped up.

"I guess a big table where I can sit down a play games with friends from the guild, or just eat with any family I might have latter on."

Lucy's pen stopped moving in surprise for a second then continued writing.

"Anything else?"

"A living room with a fireplace, and a room for Happy. Also a few more bathrooms and spare bedrooms. Also a few spare rooms that can be used for whatever." He said. Lucy looked at him like she was going to say something.

"I'd like a water slide." Happy interjected.

Turning to the exceed Lucy asked "So you want a pool?"

"Yeah a warm bubbly one that I can swim in even in the winter." The exceed exclaimed.

"Ok, so you guys want a family home with each your own bedroom, spare bedrooms, multiple baths, kitchen, living room, more than one bonus rooms, and a pool, Right?

"Aye sir."

"That sounds about right."

"Do you know an exact number of extra bedrooms, bathrooms, and bonus rooms?"

"No, I kinda figured you'd be able to figure out how many." Natsu said sheepishly.

"Natsu…, here try telling me what you want the rooms for, if you're going to use them then you need them. You could always save up and buy an addition later on, but it's best to buy the majority early."

"Alright, I want an office, gym, a storage room, play area, nursery, giant freezer, giant fridge, a lounge area and a game room. I also want it easy to clean, keep clean and fire proof."

Lucy looked over the list freezing mentally when she saw the play area and nursery. Downcast she thought to herself that he must have finally found someone he liked. And her reasoning was he didn't ever bring it up with anyone in the guild or even her so they probably want it to be a surprise.

"Alright I think I have enough to work on for now, I'll draw it up the best I can then show it to you in a few days."

After their meal Natsu was dead drunk from all the booze and brandy. Lucy packed up the picnic and sent Happy on his way with some of the fish. She then had Natsu hold the remainder and place an arm around her shoulder for support. All the way back to her apartment he was babbling nonsense and singing loudly off tune about some old sailor shanty he had heard. Listening to him made her laugh, and his big boyish grin kept melting her heart. If only they could stay like that forever she thought to herself. Given that by tomorrow he should be ready for some of the jobs on the request board.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Arra sighed contently and moved her hand over her stomach. With her power she could feel the life coming into being within her. Acnologia had left momentarily to relieve himself and hunt leaving his mate to rest quietly. When he returned she needed to let him know about the little ones growing within her. Yes, just as when she was young she could tell how many and if there was a child within. She remembered the first time she had sensed a baby growing within another person. It was back before her elven home was destroyed.

She had felt a child growing within a pure elven woman and curious asked her when the child would be able to play with her. The woman was confused at first but became overjoyed when she heard she was with child. Apparently she had been about to give up on ever having one after several failed attempts to have children with her husband. Every one of the elven had come before her after that wondering if their attempts to have children were successful or what gender the child would be. It was exhausting, but joyful at the same time. Feeling her stomach again she could feel it was two little girls. She wondered happily how her Lolo would take the news.

Acnologia stalked closer to a doe grazing peacefully. It would provide a decent meal for a few days for him and his mate. They could preserve what they didn't eat and move on from the cave after a few weeks. He hunkered down preparing to pounce. Swiftly he transformed his hand to a claw and dashed forward decapitating the doe in a single blow. The poor deer hadn't stood a chance the moment the dragon had selected it as its prey. As the animal bled out he then ripped open its stomach removing all of its innards. He then picked up the carcass and carried it back towards his waiting mate.

Acnologia's actions would have gone unnoticed if he had chosen to leave the carcass whole for some time. Unfortunately his style of hunting was far too reminiscent to his style of killing. Mest who had been charged by the council to look into the rumors of Acnologia's reappearance and the apparent fact he was still living just so happened to cross paths with the remains later that evening. He had followed the direction the old hunter had pointed out the dragon had flown in to find any clues. Looking at the remains only served to confirm he was still alive and kicking. It had taken him almost ten days traveling using his teleportation to reach this point, and he wasn't going to risk a running just to say he had seen the dragon himself. That would be too reckless. If Acnologia was going to be brought down for good they would have to bring in every dragon slayer alive to do it. Mest immediately began his trip to report in his findings to the council.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

It had been almost three days since Natsu returned to doing requests and he was looking at a particular quest on the request board. It was different from the rest which were all construction help requests. Normally he wouldn't think much of it, but when all of Fiore was as messed up as it was it appeared out of place.

"Hey Luce, Come take a look at this."

Natsu then read the request out loud as she got up from her seat next to Canna across the room. A blinding light flashed out and he flung his arms up in surprise ripping off the request in the process. When the light cleared His cloths laid as a puddle on the floor.

"Natsu!" Lucy yelled as she ran over.

She looked fervently around for the crazy fireball only to then see his cloths moving then falling aside to reveal a tiny two year old toddler sized Natsu. She stared for a moment in shock. After looking himself over he gave a annoyed expression.

"C…" Lucy said with a dark expression.

"Huh?" he asked turning to the blond.

"Cuuute!" the blond squealed her face lighting up with a huge smile flinging her arms around him in a hug squishing him into her gigantic breasts as she nuzzled him.

Natsu was about to stand up, but then realized he would be naked if he did. He looked around and seeing the barmaid he asked her to bring him something smaller to wear. Unfortunately right at that moment the Iceprick and the water mage decided to come in at that moment. Gray looked from the tiny Natsu being squished to the request flyer on the floor then back to him and sighed.

"You just had to read it out loud didn't you?" Gray said referring to the time Natsu read a request and switched everyone's bodies.

"What do you…?" Juvia said as she came around him and when she saw Natsu she froze for a moment then squealed, knelt down next to him, then started petting him on the head.

"What is this Juvia wants twelve, and Gray-sama don't be so mean to him."

"Wha?" Gray sputtered his face going bright red.

Mira came back with a T-shirt which he hurriedly put on before getting up and slipping out of the two girl's grasp. Turning to Lucy he asked "Do you think you can change me back?"

"I might, but it may take longer than it would take Levy." She said with a disappointed face. She apparently didn't like that he had moved away, but well it was good to know that she seemed to really like kids.

"I'll call the master and see if he knows anything he's currently at a meeting with the council. I'm also sorry, but Levy and Gajeel left on a mission together this morning, so you won't be able to have her help you till the day after tomorrow. So Natsu, you might have to live like that for a day or two."

"Thanks Mira." Natsu said with a sigh.

Lucy took the flyer and walked towards the guild library muttering about such a waste of something. Natsu taking into account how horrible he was with books sat by the bar to wait. Mira walked by carrying a pair of beer mugs.

"Hey Mira, can you get me a large beer?"

"No can do Natsu, you might be in your twenties, but right now your physically a child. We have a strict no under aged drinking policy. I can get you Juice, milk, soda, or water though." She offered helpfully setting down the beers by Gray and Juvia.

"No thanks, if it isn't a beer or some alcohol there isn't any point."

"Ahh, what's wrong? Maybe I can lend an ear?"

"Will that really help though?"

"You won't know till I hear right?"

"Alright. Just don't say anything to anyone." He said slouching down into his arms grumpily. "I…mive Lug..vt..nt..apsk…der.. t…de..ni..givnt…"

Mira blinked. "Huh? I can't understand you when you're mumbling Natsu; could you say it a bit more clearly for me?"

He leaned up a little so his mouth wasn't covered by his arms at least.

"I love Lucy, but can't ask her to be my girlfriend." He said quietly, but soft enough only Mira could hear what he said.

Mira smiled. "Natsu… that's perfectly normal for someone who never asked anyone out before. You just need to find a spec of courage and the right time for you to tell her. Just one piece of advice, don't make her wait forever. If you do you might miss your chance then the girl of your dreams might wind up with another guy."

"Thanks Mira." He said with a smile then reached strait out in front of him and cheerfully asked "Beer please."

"Nice try, I already told you I can't give you any alcohol till your big again."

Natsu scowled, but hearing some chuckling he turned his head. Gray was turned looking at Juvia his shirt off (again) and they seemed to be joking about something. He seemed to have completely let down his guard. A wicked smirk spread across Natsu's face. Letting your guard down around me? Big mistake icedrawers, Natsu thought to himself.

Natsu trotted into the guild library in a surprisingly good mood. Lucy hearing the door open looked up.

"Hey Luce, if anyone asks especially Gray I'm not here." He said ducking behind a full book cart and three giant piles of books.

"What did you do to Gray?"

"You'll see."

Lucy didn't have long to wait. She heard a shout from by the bar followed by some furious stomping as Gray stormed in.

"Have you seen Firebreath? When I get my hands on him…."

"Um, no. Gray did he do something to you?"

"You don't need to know." He said spinning around and storming out slamming the door behind him.

As he had turned his back to her Lucy saw the cause of his anger, and she couldn't help but stare. Right on the tail bone of his pants was a giant hole scorched in the fabric. You could just make out under the soot that Gray was wearing snowman underpants. Lucy took a sharp breath in as the door slammed then burst out laughing. It was Natsu's best prank ever. Lucy kept laughing till she had no air left in her lungs and started to wheeze and gasp from the lack of oxygen. Natsu had come out by then and was watching her laugh with a pleased grin.

"Alright, that was enough of a break for me. I need to get back to work translating why don't you go over to the fiction section and read one of them. By the time you finish Gray should have calmed down enough you can head back to the bar without him trying to kill you."

"Sure."

Lucy worked in silence as she compared all of the different ancient languages to the poster. Half way through she glanced over at the dragon slayer that had settled cross leg next to her and was reading one of the novels by Zekua Melon. It was strange seeing him quiet for any length of time. She couldn't help but wonder what if Natsu had liked her back and they had gotten married and had kids. Would their kid sit next to her like this reading while she worked, or would it cling to her wining and asking to play? Snapping herself out of the current train of thought she told herself to focus. She didn't have time to think about stuff like that, and besides he just didn't feel that way about her. Hours later she finished going through all the languages at the guild.

She literally couldn't believe it. Not a single language matched the flyer. Either it was a new language discovered or just wasn't available to the public. She looked sideways at the now sleeping slayer leaning against her chair. Gently she picked him up and held him. To think the brash often destructive hot head used to be such a small cute child. If he was really the age of a two year old right now he would have just barely learned to walk at this time and wouldn't have been able to speak properly. She decided that she was just going to carry him home and let him sleep. He was in a two year old body after all. Lucy headed down the hallway to the bar where Mira was giving Gray another beer.

"Mira, I'm going to take Natsu and head home. I looked through all the languages, but I couldn't find it anywhere. I'll have grandpa Crux do a search at home, but either way this is going to be way out of my league to handle. We'll definitely need Master or Levy for this."

"Alright, I'll make a copy of this and let you take it with you."

"Thanks Mira."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Acnologia stared in frozen in place. The deer carcass he had brought back lay abandoned on the ground. His mate waited patiently for his reaction to the news that the most feared dragon in existence was going to be the proud father to twin girls he had sired not even hours before. His first reaction was happiness, second panic, and finally worry. Arra rolled her eyes as he started to fuss over her talking about how she needed to be careful in her condition.

"I don't need to be careful for another two months. And we have almost a full year to get ready for our children to be born."

"But what if we don't have everything they need by then? What happens when I'm not good enough to be a dad?"

"We can plan as we go. You don't need to deal with it all on your own you know, and what's wrong with you being a dad? You didn't talk that way when we discussed becoming parents four hundred years ago."

"That's before I went crazy in grief and tried to annihilate entire races and destroy the whole planet to boot. If anyone finds me alive and finds out about them they could be killed by association. My very existence is putting them at risk."

"Then we'll go build our nest somewhere much safer than here. We can go there when I'm further along and this could be compared to, what was it humans did? Moving to a larger space to raise offspring?"

"Snerkha…Hahahahaha…." Acnologia snorted before bursting into laughter.

"Did I get the method wrong?"

"No, it's called a little different, but your right. You just blew what I was worrying about right out the window in an instant."

"So you like the idea?"

"Mmhmm." he purred. "We just need to decide where to move to."

"I have an idea in mind; there is a small island that is near impossible to reach by boat unless you know your way through the currents surrounding it. The edge of the currents is well out of sight of the island and the fastest and easiest way to reach the island is by flying there."

"If the island is out of sight by boat, how do you know about it?"

"I'm a Elven remember. The island used to be one of the three Elven nations. It's probably in ruins now from the assault from dragons, but we could patch up one of the better conditioned houses fairly easy."

"Sounds just what we need. By the way, you mentioned three nations. Which one were you born in?"

"I was born in the Life elven nation. The nations were called Earth, Sky, and Life. The island I mentioned used to be the Sky nation, but my homeland the nation of life is a bit farther North. When the dragons attacked the elven nations my father saved me and brought me further south to hide in his territory. Remember when we met?"

"Yes."

"Back then after my father had passed away I had gotten curious about the city of humans my father mentioned, so being a bit lonely by myself I traveled there and used this elven gem to go exploring."

"And? What did you think?"

"It was interesting, and was definitely different from what I was used to. But what I loved the most about it was meeting you." She said smiling up at him.

"If I hadn't met you that day I think I would have chosen to keel over and die cursing humans. Meeting you gave me so much. You gave me a chance at life, a purpose, love, and now you're giving me a family. You're the best thing to come into my life, and I doubt I'll ever find anything like this again." He confessed holding her hand.

"Say that after the kids are born silly. You'll have three women to make you happy."

"Your right." He said placing his forehead against hers and smiling.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Natsu woke up on Lucy's bed right when old man Crux was leaving. Lucy looked a little upset. He stretched an yawned waiting patiently for her to notice. Now that he thought about it she must have carried him back herself seeing as the last thing he remembered was reading a book in the guild library. Turning to him Lucy gave him a worried, but relieved smile.

"What's up?"

"I have good news, and I have bad news."

"I'll take the good news first."

"I found out what language that flyer was, and that is also part of the bad news."

"Ok, what's the bad news? The language is Elven and the entire culture was wiped out more than four hundred years ago. There is one person left alive that knows how to fluently read it, but her location is unknown, and it will take a trip with Levy to some ancient ruins to retrieve the reversal spell."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"Three months."

"Huh?"

"It will take three months to reach the ruins, and that's just one way."

"So your saying I'm going to be stuck like this for three months till we get to some old ruins with Levy?"

"Pretty much."

"Well, better than being stuck like this forever. Hey Luce?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think tomorrow we can go get some cloths that will fit me? I don't want to be stuck wearing only a t-shirt for the next three months."

"Way ahead of you. Here catch."

Natsu caught the bag Lucy tossed at him. Inside he saw a smaller version of the cloths he usually wore. She had also picked him out several different colors so he would at least have some variety to last him a few days.

"Thanks a million Lucy. Now I won't have Iceprick teasing me saying I'm wearing a dress."

"No problem, but if I knew it was going to be this long I would have grabbed you more. "

"Don't worry; we can just go shopping together tomorrow."

"I guess so, then we can take a few jobs around town. To earn some money for travel expenses by the time Levy and Gajeel are back." She said turning and walking towards the kitchen.

"I wish it was just the two of us going." Natsu mumbled.

"What did you say?" Lucy asked turning just catching the sound of his voice.

"Nothing. Hey Luce, can I use the shower?"

"Sure go ahead, while you're in I'll make dinner."

"Ok." He said grabbing a pair of cloths and walking to the bathroom.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Acnologia sliced at the meat with a flint knife Arra had pulled from a extradimensional storage. He had already removed the pelt and Arra was working to tan the hide to make a leather fur blanket. They would need to gather materials since the island they were going to had only trees and birds. There was no deer or other animals otherwise. All life had been pretty much whipped off the island years ago. Only migratory birds had brought life back to the island. Contrary to popular belief Elves did eat meat; it was only during special holiday traditions they refrained from eating it as a way of honoring life. As Acnologia finished cutting up the meat an setting it aside to smoke dry he set the knife down and went out to hunt again. If they were going to travel to an almost devoid of life island they would need a lot of food. Granted they would have fruits and wild vegetables, but everyone needed at least some protein in their diets. He quickly found a small herd and killed two deer like he had the first. As he carried them back a thought occurred to him. What if He grabbed a buck and a few does and carried them live to the island. Give them a few years and the deer population should increase over time. They wouldn't need to leave the island every time they wanted meat then. He would just need to retrieve some for the first two and bring the meat and some live deer back to help build the population. He could do the same with boars. He should bring it up with his mate first, he didn't want to do something uncalled for and regret it latter.

"If you want to do something like that why don't we buy a boat. We can put all the animals on the boat, and when we get out of viewing distance we can transform and carry it to the island in one go."

"That might work, but I suffer from the scourge of all dragon slayers."

"Ah, you mean you get motion sickness. Don't worry, I can fix that easy. All that takes is a little healing spell."

"Guess this could work."

"We don't have to have just deer and boars on board you know. We could get some chicken, sheep, and cattle too. As long as we have a breeding pair we'll be set so well we might never need to leave the island as long as we and our children live."

"Your right." Acnologia said with a chuckle.

He set to work on the deer he brought back. Making more deer jerky using the meat. It would be a few days before it was ready. Till then they would just need to bide their time planning out their trip.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

"Gihihihihihi…" Gajeel laughed out. "What the heck did you do salamander, you're even more of a shrimp than the shrimp?"

"Yeah, yeah, laugh while you can meatal head."

"Natsu don't tell me you did that again."

"Yep he did."

"What, what did he do again?"

"He read a spell translation off the request board out loud."

"Last time he did that everyone in the whole guild got scrambled into each other's bodies. It took forever for Levy to get everyone back to normal."

"Geez, what an idiot."

"Hey, don't talk like I'm not here."

Natsu looked as if he was about to throw a fit, which made Gajeel burst into laughter all over again. It took a whole ten minutes before he could stop. Lucy and Levy just rolled their eyes at the two slayers.

"So Levy do you think you might be willing to take this job with us?"

"Sure, Lulu. With the two of us searching and translating we'll have Natsu back to normal in no time."

Two weeks later….

"How much further Lulu?"

"Another two months and two weeks to go. I see a waterfall a few miles ahead though. If you'd like we can stop there for a break."

"Hey, everyone hold up." Gajeel growled.

He and Natsu were hunkered down sniffing the air flowing towards them. Lucy and Levy huddled together uneasily. Gajeel faced the direction of a clearing a bit ahead. They were standing at the peak of a large hill.

"Metal head you smell that?"

"Yeah. I'm hoping it's not who I think I smell."

"But he's dead isn't he?"

"I thought so too, but this isn't the first time I smelled something similar to an enemy and it wasn't him."

"Guess there is only one way to know for sure."

"Hey will one of you guys clue us in?" Lucy asked angrily.

"Yeah, come on guys we want to know what it is we need to be worrying about."

"Head to that clearing with us, and then we'll tell you. We should know for sure by then."

Gajeel led the way down. When they reached the clearing they looked over the remains of animal heads scattered about, hidden in the bushes and tall grass.

"Ok, you guys really need to talk, like now. If this is some sort of prank I'm not laughing one…"

"Acnologia."

"Wha?"

"We smell Acnologia." Natsu said grimly.

"Wait isn't he dead?"

"He should be, but this evidence plus his smell is telling us otherwise." Gajeel growled staring in the direction they were headed.

Natsu stalked forward cautiously heading into the trees with Gajeel. Levy and Lucy scurried after them not wanting to be left behind. Lucy happened to looked up and saw something white shoot by followed by the ominous black shape she had seen several times before. Natsu smelled him and saw Acnologia flying overhead. He let out a snarl as the dragon flew away seemingly ignoring them. Moments later he was out of sight. Levy heaved a sigh of relief. Both girls sank to the ground.

"Thank god he didn't attack."

"I'm with you there shrimp."

Natsu growled and continued to glare in the direction Acnologia had flown.

"Did anyone else see a white thing go by right before he came?"

"No, are you sure you didn't see a bird go by Lulu?"

"She didn't, there was another scent masked over pretty heavily by Acnologia's. It smells strange though, almost dragonish." Natsu said.

"Let's skip that break and get as far away from here as possible. I don't want to risk running into him anytime soon with only Gajeel being able to fight him."

"When we get back we need to send word to the council about him."

"I brought a miniature communication Lacrima with."

"Try using it, it might not work all the way out here, but the sooner we get word back the better."

"Right."

The signal was weak, but they managed to send word to the guild hall. They could hear yelling, gasps, and screaming from the guild members.

"Don't worry guys I'll get news to the master immediately. What direction did he fly in?"

"Southwest, Lucy mentioned seeing him following something white and Natsu confirmed another scent. If he's moving on from the area it'll be good for us, but if he comes back we might get into a fight."

"Try to take a roundabout way on the way back. I'll see if I can get Mest to go get you and join you when he returns from his mission from the council."

"Thanks a million Mira."

The group rushed off towards the Elven ruins without taking any breaks for the remainder of the day. They had no way of knowing if the dark dragon would return. Natsu had been the only one capable of stopping him and in his weakened state they could easily be annihilated. When Dusk had finally come the group set up tents and had a flameless camp choosing to go straight to bed exhausted.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

"Arra don't fly so fast, what if a bird flies up hits you in the head, then you fall from the shock?" Acnologia fussed.

"Don't be such a worry wart. I'm not that delicate, and if I fall I just need to pick myself back up again."

Arra transformed in her dragon state flew beneath the black dragon to nuzzle his chest affectionately. The Dragon curved his head down to hers and nuzzled her back.

Arra growled playfully "Race you." before darting off.

"Arra!" Acnologia called before rushing after the smaller dragon.

They had discussed how they were going to get ahold of a boat and all the things they would bring with them to the island the night before. First they would land in their dragon forms outside a small northern port town. Once landed Acnologia would cover his face and body with a cloak. He didn't trust that the look of his human form had not spread threw out the entire kingdom. All transactions for the farm livestock and boat would be done by Arra in her human disguise. After they purchased the boat and loaded up the livestock they would sail northward out of sight of the town and then capture and load some deer and boars. Finally they would sail close to the island before transforming and carrying the ship the remainder of the way to the island where they would release the boars and deer taking the other livestock with them to the ruins of the village.

He watched worriedly as Arra swooped and made loops around him trying to goad him into playing with her daring him to catch her. Giving in Acnologia gave an intimidating growl. And with three strong steady wing beats he barreled into her forcing her to land on the ground near a small river. Using one of his claws he pressed her so she was on her stomach then gave out a deep rumbling roar. It was clearly meant to express dominance towards his mate telling her that she couldn't keep up with the teasing. He then straddled her and laid down pinning her even further to the ground underneath him keeping some of his weight off being mindful of the babies inside her. In response Arra gave some submissive and seductive croons curling her tail around his. Acnologia lowered his head down to Arra's and nuzzled her affectionately. She was clearly getting in a mood to breed for pleasure again not that he minded. He was also in the same mindset, feeling horny as a tomcat around some females in heat. It was getting dark anyway and they needed to nest for the night.

"Arra, lets rest here for the night."

"Alright." She said as they changed into their human forms.

It didn't take long for the two to curl up together and happily go about their business till late into the night. Their only witnesses were the trees and the wild animals nearby. The full moon shown down setting the river aglow as fireflies danced about.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Natsu woke from a fitful sleep. He had been plagued with dreams of Acnologia coming and destroying the guild and seeing Lucy with his hand through her chest. What disturbed him even more was that she had a smile like they had just been talking with blood running down the corner of her mouth. He turned his head to look at her. It was still early and she would sleep like the dead for another few hours. It would take the end of the world to wake her up right now. Natsu wiggled his small body out of his sleeping bag. He paused and did something right before he moved to leave the tent.

As Natsu relieved himself out in the bushes he thought back and regretted his previous action. If Lucy turned him down he would feel worse than Hell running him over. He probably shouldn't have acted on his feelings. In that brief moment before he had left the tent he had kissed her on the forehead. Lucy had then shifted in her sleep a small smile had formed on her lips. Seeing her smile made him feel giddy for some weird reason he couldn't explain. Walking back towards the camp he ran into Gajeel.

"Oi, salamander, needed to go take a wiz?"

"That's none of your business Lugnut."

"True, but we don't need a squirt getting lost in a forest."

"Yeah right, you'd be the one getting lost."

"Gihihi." Gajeel laughed at Natsu's poor comeback.

"….Hey can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"How did you work up the nerve to ask Levy to be your girl?"

"Ehh…It was more of a spur of the moment thing than something planned. Wait, do you have someone you like or something?"

"Mmm." Natsu said nodding and looking at the ground embarrassed.

"Who…, wait don't answer that it's bunny girl ain't it."

"Is it that obvious?"

"Well the only choices are Lisanna or bunny girl, and Lisanna has been hanging around Laxus more than you lately. So that leaves only that cheerleader."

"So it was even more obvious than I thought it'd be."

"I might not be a good example of working up the nerve to confess, but why don't you talk to Sting and Yukino when we get back. I heard from Rouge that those two confessed to each other at the same time a week before the war started. They both agreed that they wouldn't start dating till after it was over, and they just didn't want to regret not getting their feelings out there."

"No, just hearing about that helped a little."

"I'll just give you a little advice as a friend then. Tell her before you miss out. The way she is I wouldn't doubt one or two guys are pining for her. Just take Levy for example she had Jet, Droy, and all the magic knights head over heels for her. If she didn't like me back one of those bastards would have made a move on her long ago."

"Seriously, all the magic knights liked her?"

"Yeah, best motivator to speak up if you ask me. I might not know who like bunny girl, but try imagining some over the top bastard making a move on her. Putting a little pressure on yourself to confess is a great motivator in the long run." Gajeel said turning and walking off into the trees.

"Alright." Natsu waved back at him.

Gajeel couldn't help but shake his head. So salamander liked bunny girl. Expected considering how close they were, but he would have a hell of a time getting it out in the open. Can't help but pity the poor idiot. He was more than likely going to suffer a heartbreak at the rate he was going if bunny girl didn't feel the same about him. Maybe when they got back to the guild he should suggest a drinking party to Canna and get Salamander and Lucy drunk. He remembered Natsu complain about that cheerleader getting handsy when drunk and Natsu might get lucky if nothing was holding him back. If anything it was worth a shot.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Acnologia waited patiently watching his mate haggle for a boat. It wasn't going to be big by any means, but it would serve its purpose. He was doing his best to resist the urge to kill the old perverted fisherman and the rest of the town with him. He moved closer to Arra and snaked his arm around her possessively. It served a dual purpose of letting all the guys drooling over her know she was taken, and restrain himself from creating a bloodbath.

It seemed to get the message across to the old man, because he stopped drag the conversation trying to flirt. The sale happened shortly after. A few documents were signed and the boat was theirs. They then walked to the local farmers market to buy the livestock. When they got there they learned they wouldn't be able to purchase the animals till the following day. That set their plans back quite a bit. Acnologia didn't know how fast or when news of him being alive would spread. He had already learned that his face, while wasn't well known had spread to at least one wanted board in the town announcing he was dead. If anyone saw him without the cloak Arra and the children would be put at risk, so he didn't want to stick around longer than he needed to. They would need to find a place to stay without looking suspicious. Arra was way ahead of him though. She had spotted an inn as they entered the town from an alleyway. She led the way back to it then checked them in. Acnologia settled down in the room stretched out on the bed. It had been years since he had last used one. For him there was little difference whether he used a bed, or the hard ground. The one preference he had developed over the past month he and Arra had been together was he preferred to sleep next to her.

"I'm going to go drop by a clothing store. I need to make sure I'll have some cloths that will actually fit when I start showing." She said moving her hand over her stomach.

"Alright, I'll wait here."

"Ok."

Acnologia closed his eyes after the door closed behind her and drifted to sleep. He dreamed of his past. A past he rather be mostly forgotten. Despite him being asleep he rubbed at his scars now covered by his blue tattoos. The pain of when he received them felt through the dream he now had.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

A small four year old child grinned at his parents. Though their faces were blurred and hazy you could feel the love they shared. The scene changed shortly after to a pile of rubble burning to ash and a bloody gold band the father was wearing was seen in front of the child consumed by tears. A pack of dragons flew overhead swooping down to capture some of the residents that remained before flying off into the distance. Shortly after they were gone large burly men came and approached the child grabbing him. As one man held the child still another placed a collar with magic runes carved into it around his neck. This was where Acnologia acquired his hate of dragons. They had taken everything from him.

The next few months of the boy's life went by in a blur of beatings, hunger, a burning feeling around his throat chocking him, and cold sleepless nights in the back of a cart. Soon he was brought to a large city and taken up onto a stage sold cheap to some wealthy soldier. Before being taken He was branded on his arm on the upper part. He was then shoved into a room with other child slaves given only some dirty straw to sleep on, and a glass of water and hard loaf of almost moldy bread to eat a day. This continued for years. His new owner didn't care much for his slaves he left their care to his subordinates. Their care didn't always consist of being given food, or receiving orders. For fun they would pick one of the children and tell them to do an impossible task which would result in the child being severely injured in the attempt or in pain as their collars activated for disobeying an order. If they didn't complete what they were asked then the guards would beat them harshly. Beatings didn't always happen with reason. There were occasions where a child would be taken aside and either not return, or when the child did return he would be covered in bruises and nursing broken bones. They did on occasion have some time to themselves. Every day their door would be opened and they would be commanded to get to work. They would either clean the entire barracks, fetch water, help in the kitchen, or clean the stables. Everything had to be spotless, and cleaning was done without fail. Acnologia preferred to get water and help in the kitchen. The cook was kind to him, and would sometimes give him a bit more than moldy bread to eat. He would even give him a small break around lunch to eat a full meal on occasion. He was told he reminded him of his grandson. He liked going to get water because it gave him a chance to see the city and be away from all the guards that like to make life even more difficult for the children. He would carry two large pails to a lake outside the city. He would then fill the two buckets and take advantage of all the water to rinse off the week's grime. He preferred it when he was clean to dirty. He dreamed of the day when he would get the cursed collar off and slip away. He wanted to be free again someday.

Seven years later…

A eleven year old Acnologia walked wove through the streets carrying a bucket of water. You could already make out the toned body he would have and see if you were lucky the handsome features underneath his shaggy dingy appearance. His eyes had a sharp look to them making him appear a little fierce. His arms were covered in a series of thin scars on both arms from lashings. A larger scar could be seen above his right eye. The stable master had taken to using a whip to vent his frustrations on the slaves two years back. Acnologia had become the oldest of the slaves when an older boy died from an illness. It just worked as a harsh reminder that to their owner they were worth less than livestock.

"You slave come here." A pair of soldiers called out.

Acnologia complied before his collar could cause him any pain. When he was within reaching distance one of the guards grabbed a fistful of his hair making him wince in pain.

"What you doing?" the second guard sneered.

"Fetching water." He responded coolly.

The guard holding his hair threw him onto the ground making him drop the bucket he was holding in the process. He hit the ground hard nocking the air from his lungs. The bucket spilled over water spilling everywhere.

"Ahh, looks like you spilled it. You need to be more careful."

"Yeah, looks like you need to be taught a lesson. They started to kick him. Their kicks hurt his sides, and broke his bones as he coughed up blood and wheezed. A final kick sent him flying to the edge of the street against a wall. Finally satisfied with their torture of him they walked away continuing to laugh. As he laid there watching as people ignore him and walk by, he silently cursed them wishing for all of those wrenches to die in some hole. Some children would stare and point at him to their parents who would shush them and pull them along. He found himself hating all humans wishing he had the power to get rid of them.

Suddenly a warm hand gently touched his cheek and a warm feeling washed over him as his injuries disappeared. Turning his head a little in the small hand he looked up at the stranger who was healing him. He was greeted with a gentle but bright smile. A small girl who looked to be around six with long brown hair and striking green eyes smiled down at him. Her next words left a hitch in his heart.

"Don't worry you'll feel better really soon, Ok?" she said in an almost musical tone.

After a moment he slowly sat up eying the small girl curiously. Her face was round, but he could pick out a slight tear drop shape to it and she wore a creamy white silk dress. Around her neck was a black leather band that had a blue stone that looked like it was glowing like the moon. A matching stone adorned her forehead dangling there. No commoner could wear such gems she had to be a noble.

"What is your name?" she asked with her pretty bell like voice.

"Acnologia." He said averting his eyes quickly. His cheeks he could feel starting to burn bright red despite his dark colored skin.

"My name is Arra, nice to meet you Acnologia. I'm also sorry I couldn't heal your old injuries too." She said referring to his scars.

In a moment his hate of all humans was blown away and a small warmth was in its place. She stood up and picked up his bucket. Acnologia rose to his feet as well as she handed his bucket to him. He really wanted to talk to this small girl. She felt so warm and friendly. She had to be a noble though, only nobles could afford to be taught magic. If some noble was seen talking to a slave she would be scolded, but he would be beaten. It would be only proper to warn her before she got in trouble.

"Hey listen, It might be better that you don't talk to me. You'll get in trouble, nobles aren't allowed to talk to or be seen talking to a slave."

She cocked her head to the side confused.

"What's a slave and noble? And why can't I talk to you? You're a person just like me, and you can speak just fine. It's not like you're a mute person."

"Ummm, a noble is a important person. They're the only ones able to afford to learn magic; they often wear jewels and go to fancy parties. Slaves aren't people they're property."

"You look like a person to me. You don't look like a piece of land or an object." She said smiling at him. "If you need someone to teach you magic I can do that easy."

"I might not really get what a noble is, but magic sure doesn't belong to just them."

"Um, I don't exactly have the time to learn magic. Slaves have to work on their masters orders whether they want to or not."

Arra glanced over at his bucket. "Then I'll teach you as we walk. You need to get more water right?" she said with a smartalic grin.

Acnologia blushed finding it cute. Truth be told he really wished he wasn't a slave, but an ordinary kid right now. He could then play and talk with her all he wanted and spend all day having her teach him even if it was a lost cause. He was completely smitten with her.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

Having no reason to refuse her insistence they walked together and she told him about drawing energy of the world in. They made their way slowly outside the city. He learned more about her at the same time. It was apparently her mother who taught her how to use magic. Her father who she lived with now was the one who was continuing to teach her.

"Your parents didn't live together?"

"I'm a Halfling, and I went to live with daddy when mamma passed away."

"Oh." Acnologia didn't know what having parents from different countries had to do with anything, but he could relate to losing a mother.

"My parents are gone too. Slave traders came after they were killed and so now I'm a slave. My only shot at being considered a person again is if I'm freed or escape somehow."

"Slave traders sound like really bad people."

"They are. You should be careful you don't run into any. Not all slaves do only the sort of work like fetching water and chores. If someone as pretty as you gets caught they might make you do far worse."

Arra blinked in surprise. "You think I'm pretty?"

Acnologia realizing what he said blushed bright red all the way to his ears and looked away. He felt a small hand reach out and grab his. He turned and looked down at her his face still flushed. Arra giggled up at him, causing him to blush a little deeper and look at his feet in embarrassment. He gripped her hand back. This started a routine between them. Acnologia every few days would meet her at the lake to retrieve water. He would then spend half an hour learning to draw in energy. The way she explained the energy was all living things had it. They could manipulate the energy using their own. It was referred to her by her mother as world energy because the world itself was alive. She told him to reach and feel the energy and draw it into himself like breathing. A glow formed around his body one day as he did the exercise. He opened his eyes amazed.

"I did it!" he said grinning at her.

"Yep." Arra said suddenly hugging him. His face turned to shock for a moment before he smiled and hugged her back.

"I guess this makes me a wizard now right?"

"Not yet, my mamma always said you can't call yourself a wizard until your first spell is cast. So you just need to think about what type of magic you want to use?"

"Mmmm, I don't know. I'll have to think about it for a while"

"I'll help whatever you pick ok?"

"Thanks…um, what made you pick what you have?"

"Oh, I didn't pick mine. Magic like mine is inherited so I leaned what I was already suited for. That just happened to be healing magic since an ancestor of mine was a great healer."

"So the magic someone uses is hereditary?"

"Sometimes, it depends entirely from person to person. For example my ancestor was a great healer, but my grandmother and mamma used plant magic, so it sometimes skips generations or is influenced by the person's environment."

"So when I try to figure out what magic I want to use I need to think about not only what I like, but things where I'm living too?"

"Not just that, but what you really, really want to do with it too."

Acnologia said goodbye to Arra at the outskirts of the city. He made it back to the barracks and was walking over to the barrels when he spotted a red haired woman and a large dragon. Bile rose in his throat as he looked at the creature. Swallowing it down he continued his work. The woman was talking with several of the captains about something. He looked away and focused on dumping the water in. A hand suddenly grabbed his making him shout and jump in surprise. A prickling sensation went across his skin. He eyed the owner of the hand warily, but she just smiled coolly at him.

"Boy, what's your name."

"Lady Irene that child is just a slave most certainly not worth your time."

"Really now, what do you say Belserion."

The dragon turned his head and examined the small child.

"I say he definitely has great power within him. Seems like it was activated just recently as well. I can't help but wonder who taught him though. He seems more at one with it than most dragons can claim."

"You heard him gentlemen. This child will be a soldier in our war so I'll be taking him off your hands. Since he's a slave I'll look through your others tomorrow and test their worth."

"Yes Lady Irene." The soldiers said as they bowed.

"Now boy, again what's your name?"

"Acnologia." He said hesitantly.

"Congratulations Acnologia, you're free now, and you're going to be a dragon slayer."

He thought he had misheard her at first. A dragon slayer, he knew full well only a dragon could kill another dragon, yet here was a woman who was saying he would be able to kill the monsters which had stolen so much from him. Such a power would be perfect for him. Not only that he was no longer a slave thanks to just activating his magic within. He could hope to have a future all thanks to one person. After years of suffering as a slave Arra in a few short weeks had turned his life around for the better. Mentally he then began to worry. If they were making him into a dragon slayer soldier just for activating his power, what would they do to her? He didn't want her going near a dragon. He then swore to himself that no matter how much they pressed him he would never reveal who she was and that she had been the one to teach him.

Belserion looked at the child. He could smell something familiar on him, but he just couldn't place it. He would try to have a chat with the child privately later before introducing him to his draconic teacher. Two days later he got that chance when he caught the small child trying to sneak out.

"And where do you think you're going little one?"

Acnologia tensed and eyed the dragon suspiciously.

"What do you care where I go?"

"I'm wondering if its where a particular scent I picked up off you a few days ago is from."

Acnologia flinched looking slightly flustered. Belserion thought to himself bingo.

"Are you going to visit the one who taught you magic?"

Another flinch.

"Mind telling me who that person is, I want to have a chat with them sometime. If you don't tell me I can always follow their scent and chat with them later."

Acnologia tensed up showing a bit of open hostility.

"Don't get her involved she has nothing to do with your war."

So it was a girl. He seemed to have become quite fond of this person. Maybe he could weasel a bit more information out of the boy.

"Your little girlfriend knows magic; if her magic is a battle type like yours then Irene might order her to join."

"She's not a battle type. She's a healer." He said clearly getting angry.

"As long as she's a member of this country Irene might order her to join, unless there's a good reason for her not to."

Acnologia looked a little smug this time like he finally had something to up show the dragon's goading.

"She's not from this country she said she's a Halfling."

Belserion froze for a moment. There was only one Halfling in existence and that Halfling was related to that person. He might be dying of old age, but no dragon wanted to provoke him. He absolutely needed to be sure. If that child was involved he needed to make sure no one recognized her existence. He knew from the words Acnologia said that he thought that he was talking about a person who had parents from two different countries, but Belserion knew Halflings meant something different to an currently near extinct race. He would let the child go meet that person whenever he wanted and confirm who it was from the sky. If it was that child he absolutely would make sure Irene steered clear.

"Alright, you win, as a reward I'll tell you this. As long as you study hard with the dragon teacher your assigned you can go play with that person all you want in your free time. I'll introduce you to your dragon teacher tomorrow. So today you can go tell your friend the good news. OK?"

Belserion watched as Acnologia looked at him suspiciously then ran off. He then turned and took off into the skies keeping a distance to the child as he met up with his friend. Spotting them together only confirmed his suspicions. He absolutely had to keep that girl from being involved. They were going against all of a hostile dragon group they didn't need that person's parent turning on them.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

The next eight years went by in a flash under the black dragon of void and souls Vetolon, Acnologia learned void soul dragon slayer magic. In his free time like Belserion had promised he could spend every second near Arra. In the years they were together she taught him many things. She taught him about the world, magic, life, but most of all she taught him love. She became a irreplaceable part of his life. Only Belserion and Vetolon knew he was going off to meet someone every day after his battles with enemy dragons and training. Acnologia never looked at them as true allies though. While he did have a spec of trust because they had kept their promise to him, he viewed it as a temporary alliance to end a bigger threat. He viewed his own dragon slaying power as a means to protect Arra.

"Hey Arra? What do you want to do after the war with dragons is over?" he asked her one day out of the blue.

They were curled up together underneath a flowering apple tree. Both of them had changed physically over the years. Acnologia had gotten taller and his voice deeper, he had also gotten tattoos over his body covering all his scars and the brand on his arm. They looked like flames dancing across his hard muscles. Arra gave him a thoughtful look. At fourteen she had matured quite a bit with well-developed curves and her hair much longer than before. She pets his head as she considered his question.

"Mmm, I wouldn't mind settling down and maybe having a big family someday."

"Anything else?" he asked her.

"No, I think that'd be it. What about you Lolo."

Arra had given him that nickname affectionately over the years. She was the only one who he ever allowed to call him that. Vetolon had called him that once to tease him, but Acnologia blew a fuse when he did, and the dragon hadn't done it since.

"I want a big family too, but the person I want to be with forever is only you." He said giving her his signature devilish grin.

Arra blushed and looked him in the eyes. Seeing no lies she smiled.

"Then let's make a promise between just the two of us. That we'll make the biggest happiest family anyone's ever seen together."

"Till we both return to dust?"

"Till we both return to dust."

"Deal." Acnologia purred at her sitting up to turn to her and give her a kiss.

As long as Arra was by his side he no longer had nightmares of dragons killing his family, or felt the pain of the scars he received over the years. He had pure undisturbed sleep. Six months later Arra was killed by a stray shot from Belserion battling a enemy dragon during the dragon king festival. His world became gray and devoid of meaning. In his rage and anguish he killed Belserion and Vetolon when his dragon teacher tried to stop him. He then proceeded to destroy all dragons before flying off into the sky. In his ears he could still hear her calling out his nickname to him in panic. Her worried face as she witnessed him fighting dragons for his life.

"Lolo…Lolo…LOLO."

A gentle shaking and soft voice woke him. He looked up into the warm concerned eyes of his mate. He reached up and pulled her into a kiss.

"Till we both return to dust?"

"Till we both return to dust." She returned with a smile. Their promise.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

Natsu waited patiently as Lucy and Levy searched every inch of text in the ruins jotting down notes for each one. Thanks to Mest's return to the guild he had arrived to take them all the way to the city in a few short days. He had let them know the council already knew about Acnologia's apparent existence thanks to a rumor from a hunter that had spotted him flying some months back. Their report they had sent only confirmed the suspicions that was being discussed at a inter guild and council meeting. Flyers announcing his life and new information wanted posters were being delivered to every town around the world. Natsu's top priority was to recover and return to his true form. While all of Fiore might not know what to do about the dragon one thing had been made certain. Every dragon slayer would be needed to bring that threat down. The end result was the two guys and one boy standing around practically bored to tears. Finally Gajeel had enough waiting.

"Hey shrimp, how about the three of us go set up camp and hunt for some grub. Us just standing here isn't going to do anyone any good."

"Sure, this might take a few days since we have to write down every text here. The Elven were really amazing. According to these records this city was an entire nation called Life. The Elven were even more magically adept that a dragon to make up for being not as physically prowessed. There are even a few stories here about the ruler of this country."

"Alright, you can tell us those stories latter as a campfire story."

The three men went out and set up the camp. After the tent and fire pit was set up the guys went over to the nearby lake to fish. Hours later they had started a competition to see who could catch the biggest one. So far Natsu was in the lead, followed by Gajeel; Mest still had yet to catch a actual fish. He kept hooking useless crud. A broken old tablet, an old bar sign, and finally a chunk of a bent metal hinge which Gajeel happily swiped and ate. Apparently Elven iron was extremely tasty. The competition ended when the girls came out after translating and noting all text within that particular building. Mest just so happened to hook a fish at that moment and won doing a complete turnaround victory.

"Next time I'm taking both you and Salamander down."

"In your dreams Metalhead, I'm going to be the one to win."

"Boys, boys, come on now your all pretty. Listen we found a clue about the reversal spell, the problem is the spell is in several pieces. And the clue to find it is in a riddle."

"Ok, so what's the riddle?"

"It goes like this." Levy read:

 _Spell of stone broken in three_

 _May it be found by thee,_

 _The first piece is lost in thoughts deep and blue_

 _Only found by a lost thought drunk true,_

 _The second is guarded by knowledge abound_

 _It's in a place only true wisdom is found,_

 _The last is placed at the heart_

 _A dragon stands over its cradle._

"What the heck is that supposed to mean shrimp?"

"I don't get it."

"I think I found the first piece already."

"What, when did you do that?"

Mest held up the bar sign and the stone tablet piece. Levy took it from him and read them. She started cracking up.

"Hey, I want in on the joke." Natsu wined

"The name of this bar is Scatterbrain Blue bar."

The rest of them burst out laughing joining hers.

"So some elf hid part one of the spell in a literal spot meaning losing your thoughts while drunk? We are so telling Canna that one when we get back."

"Let's give her the sign too. She loves anything to do with alcohol."

"My question is how a bar wound up in a lake?" Mest questioned.

"Who knows, maybe while we're looking we'll find the answer." Lucy said.

"Ok, so what's the second part about?"

"The second is guarded by knowledge abound, It's in a place only true wisdom is found."

"It sounds a lot like some sort of research facility, school, or library."

"I guess we need to spend tomorrow looking through all the ruins for something that looks like anything to do with knowledge."

"Well, camp is set up and we still have a few hours of daylight left, why don't we draw straws and have two pairs go exploring while one of us cooks the fish."

"Alright." They all agreed.

In the end Mest who had probably used all his luck with the fishing contest had to stay in camp. Natsu an Lucy wandered to the East and North end of town and Gajeel and Levy took the South and West. Most of the buildings in the East were all what appeared to be homes. Larger buildings were to the North. Natsu and Lucy stood facing two large ones side by side. Lucy smiled disbelievingly at the sight.

"Um, Natsu, could you send a flair up to get Levy and Gajeel over here."

"Sure, but why."

"That building to the left is a research facility, and the one to the right is the library."

"Ahhh." A smile to match Lucy's showed on his face with a sweat drop.

Natsu sent up a flair and ten minutes later Levy was there making the same expression while Gajeel rolled in laughter.

"The Elven were very literal apparently Lulu."

"I know. Rather than hiding the tablet they're practically telling us where to go."

"So, Research facility or library?"

"I'll take the research facility, your much faster looking through those books."

"Alright see you back at camp later."

"Yep."

Hours later the groups gathered at the camp. Levy held the second part of the tablet triumphantly. Apparently she had found it encased inside a metal frame in the back of the library's forbidden tomb vault. Gajeel made quick work of the frame freeing it and allowing levy to grab the tablet piece.

"Ok, so we got part one and part two of the tablet. So where do you think part three is?" Natsu asked the group.

"The last is placed at the heart, a dragon stands over its cradle."

"If we go by the last two it could mean the heart of the city, or someone who represents the city has it."

"Don't forget it has to be in a cradle underneath a dragon."

"Yeah…wait."

Lucy dug out her notebook from earlier and flipped through the pages of words she had translated earlier. Finding the section she wanted she read it out loud.

"The royal family is the treasure of the city. Every new generation beats a new life into the nation. May their reign never end and the hearts of joy forever rule."

"What about the royal family Luce?"

"It's the way they said beats and the hearts of joy forever rule that get my attention. The spelling is the same as saying a heart beats, and the hearts of joy forever rule part is saying that the royal family are hearts."

"Yeah, I get it. For the Elven the royal family was the very essence of the city in other words the heart."

"What are you girls trying to say?"

"Well, where would you expect to find a royal family?"

"Oh, I get it." Mest said.

"Yeah, that the only location other than the center of the city was the location the person who represented the heart of the city called home. In other words the palace of the royal family in the southern district is where we'll find the last piece of the tablet."

"Are you telling us to raid a castle bunny girl?"

"Yep."

"Alright, just asking."

"Oi, Levy, you were talking about interesting history stories earlier?"

"Oh that, one of them I know you guys would be interested in. According to the text the last queen of the city fell in love with a dragon. According to the text the dragon's cave was not far outside the city, and the queen would visit daily. The words were very blurred and illegible after that, but what words I could read were the exact location of the dragon, and the word princess."

"Hey do you think after we find the tablet and get me back to normal we could stop over there and take a look. Maybe the dragon left some clue what happened here. It's kinda bothering me considering how easy everything's going. Normally there would be some sort of traps at this point."

"Your right, it is going too easy. It's almost like it's setting us up for the biggest trap of all."

"I'm with you guys, things like this are never this easy. To be on the safe side I'm going to make a copy of the tablets on paper and do the same with the last one before we touch it."

"Good Idea Levy."

The group settled in for the night.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

Acnologia was waiting for Arra to finish their purchases. He hated the bustling crowds, but luckily they had arrived early and were buying their animals before the real crowd could arrive. So far Arra had purchased three cows and a bull, a ram and two ewes, and five hens with a rooster. They had gotten all the animals they had talked about, but a farmer was trying to sell seven baby goats. Arra couldn't resist trying to purchase such cute critters, while Acnologia could care less, but as long as she was happy. With the purchase of the goats they went to collect their beasts. A old drunk happened to be walking by and spotted Arra.

"Well... (Hic)…It's rare to have suc..(Hic)..ch a perdy lady in these parts. (Hic) Why don't you come with me to have a drink?"

"Thank you for the complement sir, but I am leaving town today."

"Come… (Hic)...on don't be like that." The old drunk said attempting to grab Arra's hand.

Acnologia had enough of the drunkard. His hand grabbed at his wrist before he could even lay a hand on his mate.

"She said we're leaving." He growled territorially.

"Come on Lolo, let go, he can already tell I'm all yours."

"Geez, always the young ones have all the luck." The drunkard grumbled while walking away. There was something familiar about that man under that robe, but he just couldn't place where he had seen it.

The animals were all loaded within an hour and the dragon pair sailed north as planned. Arra let her true form show and Acnologia threw back his hood as the ship pulled out of the harbor. What they hadn't noticed was the harbor master making his way around the corner of a building and spotting them leaving the practically deserted harbor. The woman with pointed ears was one thing, but Acnologia was another. It was like heaven and hell on the same ship, and unlike the drunk he had remembered the wanted poster. Unfortunately the harbor master often told tall tales so when he tried to convince people he had seen Acnologia the dragon of extinction with an elf sailing out of the harbor all he received was a few laughs for his effort.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

Natsu, Lucy, Mest, Gajeel, and Levy all split up to search the huge ruins of a castle. Mest took the outside, while the others looked within the walls. The dragon slayers used their noses to find any traps if there were any, while Levy and Lucy tried to decipher where the dragon onlooker could be. Above every door Natsu spotted letters.

"Hey Luce, do you know what those say?"

Lucy looked at the words then glanced from door to door.

"Nice find, I think you just solved the riddle."

"I did?"

"Yeah, Levy look. Each of the rooms has a name of an animal, flower, or magical creature."

The door Natsu pointed out says Lion's paw, and the next one says Rose room, and the next one after that says mermaid cliff."

"So we just need to find the one that says dragon and has something to do with overlooking a cradle."

They buzzed past a vast majority of the doors till they came to a corridor. At the end of the corridor was a circular room with five doors. Each door had the face of a dragon carved into it with a fierce expression.

"Ok, we'll need to think about this. All the doors have dragon written over them." Lucy said concerned.

"So, what do they say?" Gajeel asked impatiently.

"Door number one says Dragon's Breath, number two Dragon Hearth, number three Dragon Fortress, number four is Dragon's bed, and number five is Dragon's Stone."

"If you go by the riddle the first and last door are out. Cradle means to hold or protect, it can also mean a crib of a baby."

"Alright guys. You're up, which door do you think it is?"

"Shrimp say the last part of the riddle again first."

"Ok, the last is placed at the heart, a dragon stands over its cradle."

"I think it's saying the third one, fortress." Natsu said

"I agree with Salamander. In that riddle it said the dragon was standing over the cradle meaning it would be protecting something beneath it. A fort has guards a bed doesn't."

"Ok, so third door it is." Lucy said grabbing the knob and giving it a twist. Behind the door raveled an open sky, the room broken and exposed to the elements.

"Um, anyone see a dragon standing?"

"Your joking right? There's nothing here but rubble. And a pedestal."

Lucy moved closer to inspect the pedestal. She thought some rubble had fallen on top of it at first, but then noticed that the rubble was carved. Looking around she noticed other pieces were also carved.

"Hey guys grab a rock and come here." She said grabbing another piece.

The others followed suit and handed her their pieces as she assembled them together. Satisfied with her work she stepped back.

"Anyone recognize what I managed to put together?"

"It looks like….claws!" Levy exclaimed.

"Yep, here's our dragon, now we just need to look for the cradle."

The group walked around till Natsu happened to step on a stone and sink down. A series of stairs appeared from the stone floor. They all stood in front of the first step. Gajeel was the first to speak what was on everyone's mind.

"Is it just me or does this whole thing reeks of a cheesy trap."

"Aye." They all said in unison.

"Well, either we go in, or we look elsewhere." Natsu said irritated.

"No choice then, but to be safe lets go down in pairs."

"Salamander you first, we need you to light the way down.

"Right."

They went down the stairs steadily. Lucy counted the steps they took one by one.

"Just wait, I just know a trap is going to pop out any minute. Either the ceiling's going to come crashing down, or the floor is going to turn into a giant slIDE" Gajeel yelled as the group slid down the stairway now shifted flat."

"Natsuuu dooo somethinggg!" Lucy screamed clinging to the sick slayer.

"What did you touch Salimanderblrg." Gajeel equally sick coughed out.

Levy just screamed clinging to Gajeel as they plummeted down. Suddenly they left the stairway slide and flew in the air spinning about before landing inside a mining cart; the break lever clicked sending them rolling away.

"Not again…oooh" Natsu moaned.

Gajeel was hurling over the side as Levy clung to his back.

The cart raced through the tunnel going continually down. The cart turned left, right, left again, strait, a loop, then down even further straightening out at the bottom before turning a corner. A block in the track caused the group to go flying into a wall. The impact made the air in their lungs fly out as they landed in a heap. As each of them struggled to their feet they looked around cautiously. Gajeel wandered over to a pit and looked down. At the bottom were some water and a group of alligators.

"What is this the jungle?"

Levy moving next to him. "Ok, someone seriously has a poor sense of humor."

"Hey guys look at this."

On the wall to the right of where they crashed was a mural and some sort of switch. The mural depicted the Elven having what appeared to be some sort of party or festival around a big tree. Vines and flowers ran from the tree to the ground. A queen appeared to be offering a child to the tree for some sort of blessing. Levy quickly got out a giant piece of paper and made a sketch of the mural and used her miniature communication lacrima's app to take a photo.

"So do we turn the switch or not?" Natsu asked.

Levy read the words above the switch.

"Yep, we turn it. It also says cradle on it."

"Despite the traps, I'm somewhat glad the Elven are a very literal people." Lucy commented bluntly.

A clicking sound could be heard as a passageway opened up. Passing down the passage they came to an open chamber with a pedestal and the remaining tablet piece on top. Levy moved over to it and copied the words onto the section where the remainder of the spell had been copied. She then noticed words written on the pedestal.

"To those that want the tablet, you can take it, and a passageway will open leading outside, however the entire chamber and passage leading out will be destroyed after ten minutes. It takes fifteen to get out. Good Luck."

"Whoever wrote that has a seriously bad scène of humor." Gajeel said.

"Hey Levy? Do you think you might be able to turn Natsu back now before we take the tablet off?"

"I should be Lulu. I might not have taken the other two tablets with me, but I have everything written right here. To be on the safe side you and Gajeel stand way over there. I don't want a repeat of last time."

Levy cleared her throat and read the spell. It took several tries for her to get it right.

 ** _(For viewer digression I will not go into the details as some of it was not pretty and left some members of the group slightly traumatized. They will not speak of what just happened again.)_**

"Alright that's done." Levy said satisfyingly turning to a shivering shocked Lucy and Gajeel.

"I wana be an eggplant." Natsu said lying naked on the floor.

Lucy threw some of his big cloths she had kept in her pack at him and yelled "Put some cloths on already."

Five minutes Later Natsu stood dressed and depressed moving over to Lucy and grabbing her hand like a lost child. Lucy used her other hand to pat his head comfortingly. Gajeel looked at Natsu with pity.

"Everyone ready to go?"

"Yeah, so we just grab the tablet and as the door outside opens we run like hell?"

"That should be the case. Alright on the count of three one, two, …."

Mest stood on top of the roof of the castle. So far he was having no luck seeing anything that could be a dragon or a cradle. To top off his misfortune the rest of the fairy tail members had disappeared. He looked around just as a cloud of dust burst from the broken section of the castle and a section deep in the city at the same time.

"Found them." He said to himself teleporting to the one in the city.

All of the members laid splat out over the ground and were starting to pick themselves up. He looked from member to member noting Natsu was back to normal. He opened his mouth to ask what happened, but Gajeel cut him off.

"Don't ask." He growled

Natsu had his arms around Lucy's waist crying as she sat there. After a hour of resting, pulling troubled minds together the group decided they would all take a brief bath in the lake before going to look at the dragon's cave, after looking they were going to head for home.

"So Lulu, are you and Natsu going out yet?" Levy drawled off casually as she washed her skin. Lucy turned around suddenly and glared at the word mage.

"No, He doesn't look at me that way, so can you just drop it?"

Levy noted that Lucy said he didn't look at her that way, not that she didn't look at him. She was so going to tell Gajeel when they were alone.

At the dragon's cave they found out what had happened to the city written in Elven. The letters looked like they were made with large claws. A bit more than four hundred years ago the city had been attacked by dragons and every one of its citizens killed. Only one small Halfling child was spared. I leave this message to those of the future who seek answers, I also leave a worrying of a future that may come further within. I now leave this cave with my child in tow and hope the young five will head my message. Next to the writing they saw a picture of a Elven woman smiling, a dragon with a big smile, and a small child that kind of looked like a cross between the two.

"That picture looks similar to a drawing I did of me and my parents when I was little." Levy commented.

"So this might be some Elven dragon slayer?" Mest asked.

"I don't know. Dragon slayers magic was invented a while after the Elven were wiped out, so maybe it's a little different." Levy speculated.

"How about we just call her a Elven dragon slayer till we know for sure. I do find it a little creepy that the dragon seemed to know that there would be five of us here though."

"You're right, he mentioned a warning further in the cave, I want to write that down and bring it to the guild master. If it applies to us and not some other five it might be some sort of prophesy."

They searched further inside the cave and shortly found the message the dragon spoke of. Levy translated it for the group to hear.

" _Youngling five, I beg you to heed my words, though your enemy lives do not take his life. Should harm befall either him or my child the world shall fall to peril. Their fate has been set together though I do not know who your enemy is. All I can tell with my prophetic ability is he who destroys has suffered many losses, my child must not be one of them. They will meet soon in the time I live now. His pain will bring the destruction of my species. They did not heed my words and walk the path to extinction. I_ _The Dragon of Dementions and Time Retoricobliq_ _beseech thee to not repeat their mistakes_. "

"So this dragon's child he was raising has some connection to Acnologia? I can't think of any other enemy that's still alive." Lucy asked.

"I don't know, I mean that dragon's kid is probably dead of old age. It's not like it went through the Eclipse gate with us." Gajeel said.

"Yeah, but what if elves live longer than humans?" Natsu asked.

"You have a good point, add dragon slayer magic and it's possible the dragon's child could be just as young as Acnologia looked in human form."

"Maybe, I'm done writing down the words, so let's go home and see what the master thinks of this." Levy said.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

The council meeting was taking longer than Makarov Dreyar particularly liked. He had gotten a message from Mirajane that Natsu had gotten himself turned physically into a two year old. Two days later he received another letter from her that Lucy found out which language the script was in and they would be going on a three month with trip Levy and Gajeel to get the reversal spell. Unfortunately, the location went right past the area Mest had seen signs that Acnologia might be alive. Mest had already headed back to the guild, if he was still with him he might have sent him after the lot. He hoped he could get out of the meeting soon so he could send him. A loud ringing sounded from his pocket interrupting the meeting. Everyone from the council turned and looked at him.

"Ah, sorry about that I forgot to stick it to vibrate. I'll take this outside."

He got up and walked towards the door answering at the same time.

"Master, are you still in the meeting right now?!"

"Yes, I was just heading out into the hall so I could talk to you."

"No, just place me on speaker."

Makarov paused and said in a loud voice "You want me to put you on speaker?!"

The council and guild masters turned to him once more wondering what was going on with the old man. They all wondered what was happening that his conversation had to be on speakerphone of all things.

"Yes, I have something very important to report to them."

"Alright, wait a moment please." He said turning back towards the now waiting group.

"Yes."

"I'm sorry about this, but my guild member Mirajane said she has something very important she needs to report to you. Would you be willing to hear her out?"

"Of course, please let her speak."

Makarov pressed the speaker button "Alright you're on."

"I'm sorry to disturb your meeting, but I just got a message from my friends that they spotted Acnologia flying over them. He didn't attack and they left the area immediately, but I just thought you might want a confirmation of a visual. Mest told me he was what you were discussing, and I already sent him over for a bit of backup. Also according to my friends he was flying in a southeastern direction, and there was another scent with him."

"I'll call again master if I get anymore news."

The line went dead as Mira hung up, but Makarov just stood there pale. His brats were right in the middle of things again. He wished someone would let him retire already. Every single time things calm down in a minute they're hectic again.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

Acnologia stood at the stern of the ship enjoying the breeze. His mate's magic was really amazing; he could finally enjoy traveling without a care. It turned out Arra knew how to reach the island by water as well, so as long as the weather kept up they decided they would just arrive using the boat. Right at that moment they were riding one of the currents that would shoot them past and around the island. To reach it they would need to slowly work their way to the inner edge of the current and take the inner branch current to reach land. If they wanted to leave again they would just sail out from the opposite end of the island and work the ship to the outer or middle branch current. In the long run it was rather easy to travel if you knew about the three different currents. The trouble was reaching the inner current. Unlike the other two currents the inner one was much faster, and made steering the ship difficult the only way to switch onto the inner current was a brief window near the end of the middle current. If you didn't get the timing right you would shoot straight past and leave the three current rings. It was the island's natural defense against all water based attacks. The Elven Island was not however immune to aerial assaults since dragons had been the cause of its demise. They had a few days travel yet before they reached the current's switch point, so all they could do was to wait it out and enjoy the ride.

"Having fun?" Arra smirked playfully.

"Mmmm." Acnologia smiled.

"Wait till I teach you how to windsurf. It was rather big back during the first time I visited there. I watched my mother do it when I was young and she even let me go with her. It's like flying on the waves."

"Won't I get sick when this spell of yours wears off?"

"Huh? It doesn't wear off."

"Wait, wha?"

"It's permanent, you'll never suffer from motion sickness again."

"You're kidding…"

"Nope."

"That fowl ailment is gone for good?"

"Mmmhmm."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Serious…."

Arra silenced him with a kiss. The constant confirmation questions were starting to get a little annoying even for her. She gave him one of her signature playful smiles letting him know she would be up to something soon.

"Lolo, we have some time. Wana play?"

"Play what exactly?"

Arra smirked at him and headed below deck. There was only one thing she could possibly want to play there. He gave a charmed smile, why did his mate always have to be so fun all the time. It was like he could never lose with her. He stalked after her. For the next two days they spent their time either eating or romping about in the ship's bedroom. If anyone had been on the ship with them they would have heard laughing, moans, and possessive growls coming from behind closed doors.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

The fairy tail group arrived back at the guild hall a few days after they left the dragon's cave. Everyone in the guild gave them the usually welcome back. Gajeel who was behind the whole group scanned the room looking for Canna. Spotting her he leaned down and whispered in Levy's ear. She blushed then nodded to him before moving off to talk to Natsu and Lucy with a straight smiling face. Gajeel moved quickly over to the drunk and whispered to her. A grin cracked across her face and gave him a wicked thumbs up. Gajeel then hurried back to Levy.

"Hey Natsu, tomorrow come to the guild early. We need to celebrate you becoming a man again." She yelled.

"Since when wasn't I a man you drunk." He yelled back looking slightly offended.

"Who cares about the details it's an excuse to drink and party." She yelled in response.

"Fine."

A few hours later Natsu and Lucy headed back to Lucy's home. Their part of the reward money in their pockets. Canna seeing them leaving called Mira over to talk.

"Hey Mira, mind helping me with something?"

"Sure, what do you need?"

"I'm going to bring a particular booze in tomorrow and I want you to give it to Natsu and Lucy without telling them."

"Why won't you tell them?"

"Gajeel said Natsu needs a little push to get his feelings out, and shirking off all reason and sending those two alone into the same house might just do it."

"I don't know, that kind of seems a little too forced if you ask me."

"You know as well as I do those two were practically made for each other. Do you want them to give up on each other before they even try?"

Mira thought it over hesitantly.

"By the way, Levy spilled to Gajeel that Lucy does like Natsu, but thinks he doesn't like her back. She's apparently already giving up on ever being a thing with him. If he doesn't get a move on soon someone else might take her."

That won her over. She couldn't bear if Natsu's first real crush didn't work out and instead ended tragically. He was hopelessly in love with her for heaven's sake. Mira quickly agreed, but made Canna promise to explain what the booze she was bringing was first before she would agree to use it. She also said she wouldn't give it to them till a little ways into the party, so they would at least remember being at the party.

"That's easy, this particular booze is guaranteed to make Natsu lose his mind with a single sip. He won't hold any of his feelings back and hook up with Lucy, and they might even get it on if we make them head back together taking a bottle with them for the road."

"But Lucy doesn't remember anything she does when she gets drunk most of the time, remember? Natsu won't probably bring it up unless they do hook up and wake up together in the morning naked." Mira pointed out.

"No worries. We'll just take some pics at the party of them kissing and hugging. Then either sends it to them, and if Natsu doesn't show Lucy and she asks what happened we show her the pics too."

"That could work. They would have no choice but to confront how they feel then."

"I know right."

The two women laughed manically together plotting their setup. The rest of the guild looked over at the whispering duo wondering what was up. Something big was definitely going down, and they all knew it had to do with Natsu's a man again party. Well it wasn't them, so they just turned away and let it go.

"Natsu, wake up we need to get to the guild hall before noon."

"Five more minutes."

"Come on, It's your party you know and it's already ten-thirty."

"Mmmm." He moaned pathetically really not wanting to leave the bed but getting up anyway.

"I'll get breakfast ready while you get dressed."

"Alright." He said standing and walking towards the bathroom scratching his head.

Lucy smiled towards the now closed door then went into the kitchen to make pancakes with fruit on top. When Natsu came out they ate their breakfast. He was apparently starving because right after he finished his ten times oversized plait he asked for more to eat. Lucy complied though and grabbed a fruit salad she made a bit earlier out of the fridge. She had originally planned to use it for Dinner that evening, but if he was that hungry better to feed him now or he wouldn't leave any food at the party for anyone else. He ate the whole thing while she finished her pancake. They then went to the guild hall where everyone was waiting.

The party went typically. People drinking, food being served, people going on stage to perform, some brawls, and a ton of laughter. Halfway through the party when Mirajane went to serve Canna another barrel of booze Canna pulled out a bottle of booze and slipped it to her. Mira then went back behind the bar and poured one for Natsu and Lucy who by then were sitting next to each other watching a performance on stage. She went over to them and handed them the drinks. Lucy gingerly sipped hers, while Natsu chugged the glass down in a single go. Everything went hazy after that.

The next morning….

Natsu rubbed his eyes with his left hand squinting up at a white sealing. His head was killing him, and his right arm felt heavy like something was weighing it down. He turned to look at his arm, but gulped loud when he saw what was there. Lucy was snuggled next to him wearing nothing from what he could tell. Now that he thought about it he wasn't wearing anything either and he felt oddly worn out for some reason even though he had just woken up. He looked back at the ceiling frozen and asked out loud. "We didn't, did we?"

Lucy stirred next to him and opened her eyes just in time to hear him say that.

"Didn't what?" she said sitting up, before she realized she wasn't wearing anything and screamed in shock and tried to cover herself again.

"Did we?"

"I don't know, I can't remember anything after the drink Mira gave us."

"Oh god what if we did? Wait, pictures, someone should have some pictures from the party." As if in response to her idea Natsu's miniature lacrama buzzed and he grabbed at it and looked at the contents. Lucy peeked over his shoulder. They stared down shocked with horrified expressions. There was a text that said great party here's some pics. Bellow the text several pictures of the two of them together laughing, then at some point the two of them were dancing around, then they hugged, another photo was them locking lips and the whole guild doing a fist pump while howling at them, and the final photo had Natsu picking her up bridal style in one arm and standing on a table yelling something while Canna took a selfie with the victory sign. Natsu flicked a look at Lucy. She had her mouth shut and looked a little pale like she expected something bad was about to happen because of the pictures.

"Guess we did, and since it looks like I already said it I'll say it again so we both remember. I like you a lot."

"You do?" she asked her face turning as red as Erza's hair.

"Yep." He said as she suddenly fainted back onto the bed.

Apparently she blew a fuse when he suddenly confessed. Well, she didn't say no. Natsu grabbed the covers and snuggled up next to her wrapping his arm around her waist affectionately and decided to just go back to sleep. Lucy had already beaten him to it after all.


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

Acnologia hefted a board high onto his shoulder. He and Arra were in the middle of repairing their first home together. They selected a abandoned looking building on the outskirts which hadn't been too damaged. It was mainly stone with two bedrooms and a large kitchen. A tree grew over it which was probably what had protected it from so much damage. All they needed to repair was a bit of the roof and some of the kitchen. They also decided to replace the door which had fallen off it's hindges and find some furniture for all the empty rooms. Being a few months into her pregnacy Ara was starting to show. They would have to be finished with the repairs and making the new furniture before it was time for her to give birth to the still growing twins. While he was taking care of the roof she was busy fixing the kitchen. Several of the apliences needed to be restored, and Arra was the only one who could do that. She needed to use her magic which could deal with time and her knoledge of elven script to restore them to working order. At least that's the story Acnologia gave her. He just didn't want her involved with any heavy lifting as long as she was carrying their children. When she tried to protest and help him he just kissed her and told her he'll be done soon before running off. He had already been working on it for half the day and he was currently carrying the last board he needed. As he walked up to the cottage home Arra stood in the doorway smiling.

"I'm all done in the kitchen, need some help?"

"No, this is the last piece. We can figure out what we want for furniture after I finish."

"About that, while I was working I started to think, why not look and see what else can be salvaged from all those ruins."

"What do you mean?" He asked as he hopped up to the roof and began nailing the board down.

"Well, we were able to restore this house, the kitchen is back to working order, so why not stick with the theme of using restored items."

"I don't mind, but we'll need a few weeks if not months to get through the whole area and fix up what we can use."

"You always loved doing treasure hunts though."

"True, but I love being near you more. I'll go with whatever you want."

Arra giggled and wrapped herself around him in a hug before kissing him on the lips.

"Then we'll just look through them together. You can have a treasure hunt and me at the same time then."

He smiled down at her, content with the life he now had.


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

"Lolo, did you find anything in there?"

"Yeah, I'm surprised how much we found still in one piece even after more than four hundred years."

"Well, Elven were well known for craftsmanship and magical enchantments. If you notice on the furniture there are a lot of intricate carvings and hidden within them are some Elven runes."

"You're right. We still haven't found any cribs or anything to do with kids yet though."

"We should be able to find one or two sooner or later. The Sky nation was well known for having larger families."

"Did your nation not have large families then?"

"Some did, but the Earth nation had small families. The most they had was one or two children. It was extremely rare for any of the families there to be larger."

"Really? Then wasn't the Earth nation declining in population?"

"They were, but people from the other nations actually went there to retire so it balanced out in the end. Oh!"

"What?"

Acnologia walked over to see what she had. In her hands was a picture of an Old Elven woman with a bouquet of flowers sitting in front of a small cottage surrounded by the same flowers she was holding. Arra looked fondly at the picture.

"Who's that?"

Arra said in a dreamy fond voice "This is an old woman who I met during my first stay here with my mother. She said I reminded her of her late granddaughter who had passed on. She gave me sweat buns and played with me while my mother was busy. I called her Grandma even though she wasn't really my grandmother."

"So you knew her well?"

"Yep, I'm surprised some pictures survived four hundred years. If we find anymore I might be able to tell you who they are."

"Alright, if I run across any I'll grab them for you." He said going back to digging through rubble.

When the sun reached noon they gathered up all the old furniture a carried it back to their cottage. They managed to find four chairs, a rocker, and an old bookshelf, though Acnologia did find three more old photos. Because the furniture required only minor repairs they did them right away after eating lunch. They went straight off to search again in a different section of the town after. They searched through that section of the town, but only found a few that were in pieces and unrepairable. They did however find a bedframe and a table that went pretty well with the chairs they found earlier. They moved on to a third section of the town soon after.

Near the end of the day…

"I can't believe we haven't found a single crib yet."

"I know, it's like the universe is dictating that we will not find a crib intact."

"Well we have at least one more section to look, if we don't find it there we'll just have to make one."

"I know of one other place that's kind of hidden on the island Lolo. It's an old storage facility for exports from the country. No one went there unless they were dropping something for shipment off. I learned about it when I followed some men in a cart out of curiosity."

"Maybe we should have checked there first. There could be things there in much better condition than what we found."

"How about we drop these things off and head there now?"

"Sure."

Acnologia and Arra went to that storage facility which had been located inside a cave. Most of the items there were food exports that were either no good or had already rotten away. In a back corner of the facility they found some furniture. There were a couch, loveseat, and two chairs, after digging around in the crates they also found what they had been hoping for. In fact it wasn't a single child crib, it was one that been built for a pair of twins.

"Arra, I found one."

"Really?"

"Yep, let's get this stuff home. I don't think we really need anything else. I can just make something if we need it."

"Alright, I already thought of something you could work on though."

"What?"

"A mobile to hang over them."

"Isn't that a little simple?"

"Not if you make it. Remember that time you carved that hairpin for me?"

"Yeah, it didn't turn out so well when I first tried, I wound up getting too elaborate, but you still wore it."

"I still have that pin too, even though it doesn't hold all my hair anymore."

"You kept it, even after all these years."

"Of course, It's the first thing you ever gave to me, why wouldn't I."

Acnologia smiled gently. "I guess that's another thing I need to make then."

"What?"

"A new bigger hair pin you can wear like you did when we were little."

Arra giggled "you always loved when I wore my hair up didn't you."

" It's more like I saw you interested in all the hair pins that women were wearing back then, and I just really wanted to make you happy."

"Actually, I was wondering if you would prefer if I wore my hair like everyone else was."

"Pft…hehehehe." He laughed Arra soon joined in.

"Well, I did like it. But I loved seeing you always smile more."

"I liked seeing you happy too. And by the way that pin you made was so good that a lot of women I passed by were whispering about where I had gotten such a beautiful pin. They were all jealous and envious. You have a real talent for carving after all."

"I'm not that good."

"You are, and I have a feeling our daughters might get some of that talent too."

"If anyone's talented it's you Arra. Your biggest talent is you can see good and joy in everything."

"I guess that they'll take after both of us then."

"Yeah, but I hope mostly you."

"Geez, I'm hoping they'll be even half as sweet as you are."

"Hmmm." Acnologia hummed happily.

Time till Arra gives birth 7 months 2 weeks…


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31**

Natsu waited he had yet to give the signal to Lucy, they had already swiped Canna's phone and texted Baccus. They just needed to wait till he was ten minutes from the guild hall to set their plan into motion. Natsu took another deep breath then smirked. Operation revenge was a go. He picked a fight with Gray so as not to seem suspicious. That was the sign for Lucy to ask Canna if she had that bottle of booze she brought yesterday, and if she could go get it if she did. Canna stood up and went towards a back room. A minute later Baccus burst in asking for her. Everyone paused at his sudden appearance. Lucy pointed to where she just went and He ran full speed. Seconds later yelling was heard.

"WHAT THE HELL!"

"Mumbling."

"WHERE THE HECK DID YOU HEAR I'M KNOCKED UP FROM!"

The whole guild starts to blush bright red staring at the closed door of the back room.

"Grumble, mumble mumble."

"…."

There was a pause in the yelling.

"Mumble mumble."

"AHAHAHAHA….YES YOU BIG IDIOT, BUT FIRST OFF…"

The door of the back room slammed open.

"OK, WHO SENT A TEXT ON MY PHONE?"

"Better learn to limit your pranks Canna." Lucy said with a sly smile.

Natsu who took advantage of the pause had his arm around her shoulder and was smirking at the Card mage. She stared at them for a moment before bursting out laughing.

"Ok, ok, I admit using that did go a bit overkill." Baccus came up behind her blushing red.

Gajeel and Levy took that moment to burst into the Guild.

"Salamander! Give us the key right now, and where did you get anti-magic cuffs from."

"Hehe" Lucy laughed giving him a peace sign.

Levy and Gajeel looked at them for a moment in disbelief. Gajeel then walked up to Natsu and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I see, so it worked out. Good for ya. NOW GIVE US THE DAM KEY!"

"We already gave you the key. We left it in a particular book of Levy's."

"Yep, the type of book gives you the meaning of why you were pranked too."

"Come on Shrimp, we gotta find that key." Gajeel said as they stormed off.

Mira looked from where the dragon slayer and script mage had been to Natsu and Lucy who were now looking at her.

"You're next Mira. It's only a matter of time before you set the prank off. And by the way this is for crossing the line when meddling with other's affairs. You know the old saying. Karma is a bitch."

"Hey Mira, we're taking this mission to go fight monsters too." Natsu said.

Mira gave them a worried expression as the two got up and left the guild hall. The whole guild stared after them, then over to Mira who started to break out in a cold sweat. She couldn't help but wonder just what those two had set up. Canna on the other hand couldn't resist starting a betting pool for how long she would last before their prank got to her.

"Hey this is getting wild babe." Baccus commented putting his arm around the card mage.

"No joke, but we kinda deserved it. We did get them so drunk they couldn't remember what they did."

"Hey babe, how long do you think before barmaid cracks?"

"I don't even give her an hour."

Natsu and Lucy walked towards Lucy's home laughing wildly. Natsu had her in a tight hug and had her pressed to his side. When they had their laughter about under control they looked at each other's eyes and burst out once again.

"We got them so good."

"Yep, but Gajeel and Levy we might get retaliation."

"So do we need to check the place before we can relax?"

"No, I just need to do a rune write that will turn anyone who attempts to pull a prank other than us will turn their hair another color for a week."

"Why their hair?"

"Simple, if we are away on a mission then when we get back we can see easily who tried to pull what. Gajeel mentioned before during that whole Tartarus thing that a sent fades quickly, so this will show clearly who was here."

"Good point. Hey what color do you think Gray's hair would turn if he did it?"

"I think it might turn the same color as Juvia's or Erza's personally."

"That would be hilarious." Natsu laughed out.

Lucy cracked a grin before joining him.

"I'm going to set it up right away when we get back."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Just keep a lookout till I get it set up. If any of our guild is within viewing distance word will spread that I'm setting an enchantment immediately. They would probably bring Freed or Levy along to prank us then. Since we just pranked Levy, she might be more than willing to help."

"Alright, I'm all fired up."

Lucy took thirty minutes outside her home to write the enchantment. After she was done they went inside and she went to make lunch for the two of them. They were going to head to the train station right after. Natsu had definitely done some quick thinking about taking a mission that would last a whole week. If they were still around and Mira cracked she might threaten them with her Satan soul to tell them what was going to happen, and that would be terrifying. Happy took that chance to show up and join the two.

"Hey guys."

"Hey." Natsu said grinning.

"Oh, hey Happy." Lucy said over her shoulder.

"So, back at the guild hall everyone is acting weird. Mira's freaking out too."

"That's because we got back at them for what they did to us at the party yesterday little buddy."

"What did they do?"

"They gave us both an alcohol that whipped our memory of what happened after we drank it."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"It is if…well, let's just say it was bad for us, ok?"

"Alright, hey Lucy?"

"Yes?"

"Can I go with you guys on the mission? Carla got mad at me for some reason, and she won't tell me what I did wrong."

"Sure, if Natsu's fine with it too."

"I'm always fine with you coming with little buddy."

"Thanks guys."

"Hey Happy, I have a few fish in the fridge for you. If you wouldn't mind, could you set the table for three then get them out."

"Sure." Happy said excitedly before getting to work with the task.

One meal and train ride later….

"Ohhh…blrg" Natsu moaned sickly. "I never want to ride a train again."

"Ok, we just need to check into the local inn then we can go monster hunting." Lucy said ignoring his griping.

"Aye sir."

"Natsu come on, you can rest for an hour before we head out at the inn."

"You're so cruel."

"Yeah, yeah."

They went to the local inn and Lucy checked them in. The hostess told her as Natsu huddled sickly in a corner that the inn had a mixed hot spring. It also had a beautiful open garden and greenhouse walk area. Not only that the inn had an indoor and outdoor pool among a few other extras. It personally sounded better than most inns in Crocus, and that was the capitol of flowers. She glanced over at Natsu. That hot spring looked like it might do him some good right about now. Getting the room key Lucy grabbed Natsu and hauled him to it. It was a single bed room with a chair and a view over the walk around garden. She flopped Natsu down on the bed. He laid there on his stomach and happy went over to the chair to stretch out over the back for a catnap. Lucy sat next to him and gently rubbed across Natsu's back helping him relax a little.

"Hey Natsu?"

"Mmm?"

"They have a hot spring here. Do you want to go relax it there for a bit? It might help you feel better."

"Nnnmnn." He responded grabbing her waist and snuggling into her lap.

Happy made snoring noises across the way. Smiling at him Lucy pet Natsu's hair, eventually getting soft snores out of the dragon slayer. He might be wild and a pig, but he could be cute sometimes. Two hours later Natsu woke up from his nap to find Lucy dozing with her hand on his head. A smirk spread across his face. Glancing over at Happy who was out cold Natsu slowly sat up and kissed Lucy on the lips. Her eyes fluttered open. Feeling his kiss Lucy deepened it briefly before Natsu broke it. Happy mumbled something about fish. Natsu and Lucy glanced over to the cat before looking back at each other and giggling.


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32**

Acnologia and Arra just finished arranging the furniture around the newly refurbished nursery. It still needed some things, but they had a majority of everything made. Arra then moved off to collect wool from their sheep and the local island's sheep they discovered on their way back. Apparently a few animals had in fact survived the attack and were breeding herds on the island. Elven sheep were a bit different than human sheep in the fact that their wool could be spun similar to silk. And that silk thread had some magical properties that when turned into fabric and clothing would resist any type of magical damage. It was perfect for a young Halfling's who didn't have full control over their abilities yet. The thing about those sheep was they were not only native to Elven; they were also only located on the island of Sky nation.

"Arra, don't strain yourself. If you need me to I'll shear them ok."

"Don't worry, I can handle it."

Acnologia didn't know what was more stressful about her. The worry that she may one day disappear from his side, or the fact that she was carrying his children while she was working. If he had his way she would be bedridden till they were out of her stomach. He remembered a week ago when they had been curling up together for the evening. He had his hand protectively over her stomach when he felt a movement. He looked at Arra first in surprise, but she just giggled and smiled at him. He felt it again shortly after. He then realized what he had been feeling. It was his unborn daughters' movement. Mystified he placed his ear to Arra's belly and listened. He heard a faint thumping as he felt them turn inside her. He then looked back up at Arra a big gentle smile on his face full of excitement. After that they had snuggled together and fallen asleep. He couldn't believe she had managed to capture him so much without her he was insane.

"Well, better get back to work." He said to himself.

Acnologia spent the next few hours concentrating on carving pieces for the mobile. He carved dragons with scales layered on its hide, and wings folded and opened flying. When he looked up from the last piece he was carving Arra was coming back with a mountain of a bag and a small bundle.

"You got all that from what like four sheep?"

"No, I got This small bag from two, and the big one is from a Elven sheep herd of over thirty-nine. Now I just need to spin and weave the wool. I think I might save the other sheep's wool as a stuffing, because it's more fluffy than silk like."

"That might work."

"I'm going to go get started on making thread, do you need anything?"

"No, I'm good." He said lifting his dragon carving up."

Arra came over and looked at them. A smile split her face.

"They're beautiful. Hey, I have a suggestion if you're interested."

"What is it?"

"This island has some stones that if cut and polished look a lot like gems. What if for the dragon's eyes you put some of those inside."

"That sounds great. What do they look like, and where do I find them?"

"They're scattered all around, and I can help you look for some before I start on this if you like."

"Alright, I'll finish carving this after I get the stones, so let's go now."

It took only a short time for them to find the stones. They found yellow, green, blue, purple, red, and orange. Arra explained the processing methods that were once used on these. She explained how depending on the cut of the stone the colors shifted. So if he used one cut for one eye he would have to make the same cut if he wanted the eyes to match. Back at their home she brought out a special Elven knife and showed him on one making several different shaped tiny stones all varying in different shades despite being cut from the same stone. When she cut it she made sure to make matching pairs so he could use them on his dragons before handing him the knife and leaving him to it. He looked over each shape she made then attempted the same with another stone. It took him a few tries to get the hang of using the knife before he could make matching pairs of stones. He then made a pair of eyes for each of his dragons. Finally he went back to carving finishing his last dragon and carving out the eye sockets of every dragon for the stones.

"Arra, is there anything I can use to make the stones stay inside permanently?"

"No, but I can make you some tomorrow if you like. I learned in the Earth nation how to make a resin that if left to set for two days turns hard and won't unbind unless you cut away whatever it's bound to, or use a separate resin that was made to unbind the things."

"How do you know about and how to do all these things?"

"My mother traveled a lot for diplomatic reasons, and I had a lot of time on my hands."

"I'm guessing you never imagined everything you learned would be useful in the future. I'm practically useless in comparison other that for fighting, heavy lifting, and breeding."

"You're not useless, and I just need to teach you how to do these things. And another thing, you are a natural born woodcarver. I could never make anything that could hold a candle to what you can make."

"I wish I was more useful now though. I can't even cook without wrecking it."

"You just never had the proper chance to try."

"I remember back when I was a slave though. During those days you always brought me something to have as a snack saying I looked too skinny and practically fed me enough to take down an army."

"Hey in my opinion they didn't give you enough to eat at all for the amount of work they made you do, and you could have always not eaten everything if you were full."

"It was something you made though! How could I leave anything you made behind and make you think I didn't like it?"

"You're so silly." Arra said nuzzling him affectionately. "How could I ever hate a man as kind and sweet as you are?"

"If I'm kind than you're something beyond a saint."

"Am not, and you are kind."

"Pft…" they laughed together happily.


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33**

"Natsu, carful there is one coming in from the left."

"Got it, thanks Luce."

"Geeze, no wonder they hired for monster extermination, they're infested out here."

"We'll get this mooovin along miss Lucy." Torus said.

Lucy captured a monster with her whip and swung it down hard. She was wearing her Torus star dress making her a powerhouse. Releasing the now dead monster from her whip she captured another.

"Natsu jump up." She said as she spun the monster about knocking it into several others.

Natsu jumped into the air as the streamline of monsters got knocked away underneath him. Two monsters jumped at him from the front and one from behind. Natsu twisted in the air kicking them all with his flames. He landed on his hands and pushed off to land on his feet. He gave the next wave a fire dragon's roar. Giving him and Lucy enough time to get back to back to talk. They breathed heavily from exertion.

"This is taking forever. I wish I could just burn the place down already."

"I wish we could too, but the town would get caught up in it."

"Than what do you think we should do?" Natsu said punching another monster.

Lucy thought for a moment before asking "Do you think you can cause an explosion that would clear the area only in a five hundred meter radius without starting a forest fire?"

"Easy, Happy take Lucy up for a bit. I'm all fired up."

"Aye sir."

"Torus I'm closing your gate for a bit."

"Nice mooves as always miss Lucy." He said as she closed his gate.

As the monsters surged forward to the now lone Natsu he hunched up building power. Flames licked along his body making the monsters pause and hesitate before resuming their charge.

"Fire dragon's….EXPOSION" Natsu yelled out as his flames turned trees and monsters alike to ash with their intensity. When he was done not a single monster or tree was left surrounding him. Happy landed with Lucy back on the ground. She looked around nonchalantly.

"I thought that would work to make it easier to fight, but I didn't think it would work that well. I don't think there is a monster left in the area. And by the way, nice job not going overboard."

"Hehe…" Natsu laughed giving her a peace sign.

"Yeah, yeah laugh while you can you big lug." She said swatting him. "We'll be back here tomorrow to make sure we got them all, for now let's head back to town."

"Alright."

As Lucy approached some bushes on the edge of where Natsu left the ground in ashes a monster jumped out to attack her.

"Lucy look out!" Natsu yelled."

Lucy still in her Torus star dress punched the creature in the gut making it faint from pain. Seconds later Natsu's flames hit the creature turning it to ash.

"Lucy, you ok?" Happy asked

"Yep, now let's get back. I'm all sweaty and that hot spring is calling my name."

"Same here, but let's not get drunk this time." Natsu said.

"Fine." She said waving over her shoulder.

Back at the inn….

Happy was currently sleeping in the room while Natsu and Lucy went to the springs. Lucy had a towel wrapped around her body as she stepped over to the springs. Natsu had yet to come out so she slipped into the water. She sunk her body down to her neck letting the warmth seep into her tired muscles. Her eyes closed and she leaned back starting to doze off. Before she knew it hard muscular arms wrapped around her and something large pressed into her belly. Her eyes sprung open only to have a fiery dragon slayer kiss her. She melted instantly into his sculpted body. Her arms found their way around him as she felt his muscles ripple under her touch. Remembering where they were she broke the kiss and looked around.

"Relax Luce, no one is here. The last person left as I was coming in."

She gave him a sheepish blushing smile with upturned puppy eyes. That did him in. Natsu couldn't hold back anymore after that. He aggressively gripped at her body and embraced her in a rough deep kiss. Their tongues danced driving them both mad. Natsu's hands trailed over her body and down along her long legs. He pulled them up around his waist and ground into her slightly. Despite the haze going through Lucy's mind she was aware what he wanted. She broke their kiss once again and nervously looked at him.

"I might get pregnant if we do this you know. We aren't exactly using protection right now."

"I don't mind being a dad if you're the mom." He purred moving to kiss her neck.

"Didn't we agree earlier that we were too young to be parents?" Lucy said putting up mild resistance.

"I hate when you make a point." He said reluctantly pulling back.

Lucy felt a little loss from the lack of his touch. She curled up shortly after into his side. His arm went over her shoulder protectively. She laid her head against his shoulder and likewise he lay against her head. They snuggled lovingly together. After half an hour passed Lucy spoke up.

"If you want to try that we could just buy some protection you know."

"Ok, but let's do it when we get back then. Happy will be around Wendy and Carla again and won't be able to interrupt us then."

"Deal." Lucy said kissing him.

After their bath they took a walk together around the garden. And a six days later after taking care of all the monsters they headed for home. One train ride later Natsu and Lucy walked into the guild hall again. As they walked in they saw six people with different colored hair. They were Erza, Mira, Gray, Gajeel, and Levy. Erza's hair was now a leopard poka dot, Mira went from silver white to a grass green. Gajeel and Levy looked like they had switched hair colors. Finally Gray looked… **(Censored due to appearance being rather echi).** Natsu burst out laughing at Gray and pointed. Happy stared wide eyed with Lucy.

"Lucy, when will this enchantment wear off?" Levy asked seeming a little upset.

"Relax Levy, I just made it so it would last one week. By the way, you got our message about that stunt you pulled right?"

"Yep." She said disheartened.

"Ok you guys I have to know, what is that prank you set for me already? I went to your house to find a clue with Erza only to get my hair like this. Since Gajeel, Levy, and Gray wound up the same way I know this wasn't mine." Mira asked distressed.

"Ah Mira, we just said we were gonna prank you. That was our prank." Natsu said.

"Nice one. Ok guys the winner is me bets are up." Canna yelled as multiple members of the guild groaned.

"Ah, Lucy I saw that drawing you're doing for Natsu by the way. It seems like it's coming out great." Erza commented while preening.

It seemed she liked the leopard hairstyle a lot and was wearing an amazon like armor to match. Give it to Erza to be high fashion and stylish with pranked hair. She walked back off to the bar where Mira was depressed about getting worked up for nothing. Gray seemed too upset about what happened to his hair to talk. After reporting in about the successful mission and saying goodbye to Happy they headed for home. When they arrived they unpacked and Lucy held up a small box. Natsu blinked and looked at it for a moment before grinning and taking the box in hand. He was all fired up now.


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34**

Acnologia looked over his handiwork. Arra had made the resin early that morning and had given him the bottle when he had woken up. He had now glued the stone eyes into his wood dragon carvings where they glittered softly. He looked over at all the stone remains. Thinking he got an idea and grabbed his knife again. He worked and worked with the object in his hands then took the resin and stones to it.

Later that evening…

"That looks so beautiful Lolo."

"That's not everything though." He said placing an object playfully on the back of her shirt.

Arra reached behind and grabbed the object. She took one look then threw her arms around Acnologia happily. In her hand was a beautifully carved hair pin. It was much simpler in design than the first one he made for her, but was much more colorful as well. The pin itself was a dragon with intricate scales. It's tail held the wearer's hair in place while the dragons claws held a rose decorated with stones in the shade of reds and pinks. The dragon's eye was a deep ocean blue.

"It turned out much better than the first one I gave you."

"Of course, don't you know the saying? Practice makes perfect."

They smiled together. An hour later Arra walked into the kitchen with her hair pinned up in a ponytail. Her new pin glittered as the sun hit it slightly. She immediately went to cooking their food. Acnologia was sprawled across their couch snoozing. Arra glanced over and smiled at him. She had just finished turning the wool she had been working on into thread. Now she just needed to dye and weave it together into cloth. A kick bounced against the inside of her belly. She subconsciously moved her hand to rub it. To think in just a few more months they would be able to see their children's eyes. If her father was still alive he would without a doubt try to play with his grandchildren just as he had played with her when she was growing up. Her mother would have also tried to spoil them with toys and a variety of pets. She thought back to their final resting places. Her mother was incased in a coffin made using her father's dragonic time magic preserving her body for all eternity. Her father at the bitter end had cast a delayed spell doing the same to himself so even in death would they be together. They now rested in a cavern at the bottom of the sea just off the cost of the island. Perhaps when the children were old enough she could go there with them and Lolo to visit their graves. In a way it would be introducing her husband to her family as well she mused. As she finished her cooking she set the table then went to wake her mate up.


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35**

Natsu hummed pleasantly and stretched out leisurely. He didn't think there was anything more relaxing than sleeping or eating till now. He nuzzled Lucy who was curled next to him out cold. Her head was against his heart. He ran his hand over her bare side enjoying how soft her skin felt to touch. They learned soon as they started that this had been their first time. It made them happy to learn that for a first it was remembered and not drowned out by some heavy alcohol. He loved hearing her scream out his name as he growled possessively on top of her body. Her legs had locked around his waist as she twisted around underneath him. Her skin had tasted so sweet as he licked and nibbled on it. In fact it was far better than anything he had ever imagined.

"Crap…" he spoke softly realizing he was getting hard again. He glanced over at the near empty box of condoms next to the bed. They had done it so many times last night that they had nearly used up the box. They would have to pick up more if they got the chance. In fact he felt they might need to stockpile a years' worth to last the month. Lucy wouldn't be able to walk for a week after he was done though. Heck he wasn't sure if she would be able to walk today. Lucy started to wake up.

"Natsu, what's wrong?" she asked sleepily. She looked slightly down and notice the bulge that was mostly hidden by the thick comforter.

"Geeze, you're such a pervert." She purred at him as she lined herself up for another round.

"You don't seem to mind though." Natsu said slipping on one of the last two.

"That's just because you feel so good." She said straddling him.

"Now who's the pervert." He laughed.

Lucy settled down over him arching her back as he went inside. He let out another feral growl as she bounced up and down. He just couldn't get enough of this.

 _Hours later…._

"Better now." Lucy said teasingly looking down at him from on top of his chest.

"Mmmhmm."

"Wanna stay in bed for a bit? I'll go get ready and pick up some more boxes."

He thought for a moment.

"Nay, how about we take a shower together?" he playfully grinned at her.

She swatted him and pouted.

"Your seriously insufferable, you know that?"

"You know you like it." He smiled.

Lucy's pout turned to a coy smile and they slipped up off the bed. Natsu paused to grab the last one from the box before heading after her.

 _At the guild hall…_

Canna looked up from a reading she was doing to see the two of them walk in. A smirk went over her face, then she shouted out.

"I WIN!"

"Dam, and here I thought I would finally beat her for once." Macao said to Wakaba.

The two of them blinked at the outburst, but chose to ignore it and head to the bar for something to eat. Natsu as per usual ordered a hefty amount that could feed an army. Lucy ordered a muffin and glass of milk. As Natsu finished his meal Gray came over and hauled him off to brawl. It was more than likely in retaliation for the hair and his earlier prank. Lucy let them go, not wanting to get caught up in it. As per usual a full guild brawl broke out and Lucy turned to Mira.

"Mira, is there any news from the master about a decision?"

"No, with Acnologia involved I wouldn't be surprised if they take a full month to reach a verdict." She said as she dodged a guild member flying behind the counter with a crash.

"I hope nothing bad happens while we're waiting though."

"Same here. We just got over one war and we're still recovering. Not only that, some of the other guilds will take months if not years to get back up to full strength. Most can't afford to go into battle or else they would be wiped out."

"At least all the jobs right now are helping restore the guilds a bit more quickly."

"True, it does help, and right now the number of job requests related to rebuilding homes is dropping too."

"Hey Mira, don't you think it's time Master got the S class trials going again?"

"You're right Lucy, Master has already mentioned holding one hopefully when he returns. Don't tell the others, but I'm assigned to keep track of how well quests go and whatnot while he's away. When he gets back I need to tell him who did what and he's going to announce out who is going right away. This year he plans to make sure the S trials are done faster than ever." Mira whispered. "He might also let more than one wizard become S class this year." She raised a finger over her lips for the shushing sign then glanced around to make sure no one saw.

Lucy nodded and looked over at her boyfriend now wrestling with Gray. Erza took that opportunity to walk into the guild and yell at everyone to stop fighting. Gray and Natsu of course got their heads knocked together making their eyes swim. Lucy watched for a bit then walked over to look at the request board. Mira was right about the building jobs being mostly gone. Lucy spotted two requests to fight monsters, one to find an artifact in some ruins, and finally a request to destroy large quantities of rubble that were the remains of a ship. The ship was one of the ones Zerif's group was using during the war. If they were going to destroy it they would have to look around it first. They might find something useful onboard too. Lucy grabbed that one and one of the monster quests. The monster quest was on the way so they could finish that one before arriving to get rid of the ship. She went over to Mira to get the quests approved then hauled Natsu out to head back to her house showing him the quests on the way.


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36**

Master Makarov sighed exasperated. This council meeting wasn't going anywhere. It had been nearly a month and they still hadn't reached a solution. He missed the boisterousness of his guild despite the fact they wouldn't let him retire. He needed to get the S class trials back in order too. This year he was letting Mira observe the younger generation and report back to him. He was no longer as young as he used to be and the war had taken a toll on him. As he started to slow up he was handing duties off to some of the guild members to take care of. Mira it was writing reports on how missions went. Macao was handling most of the paperwork with Wakaba setting it up. They were nowhere near S class quality and they knew they had reached past their prime. They still went on smaller missions, but stuck mostly around the town. They still wanted to be in the guild and not retire from it, so he had them working as assistants.

"I propose we do this then since currently we're going nowhere."

Makarov looked up at the current chairman.

"I propose we put this meeting on hold either till something happens involving Acnologia, or until the situation with the guilds changes enough that we can make a move against him."

"Agreed." The council members said clearly frustrated at the situation.

"Guild masters. This meeting will be put on hold. The current situation doesn't allow for anyone to make a move against Acnologia without serious repercussions. For the time being we ask you return and strengthen your guilds till they are stabilized and the kingdom of Fiore is no longer in disarray. We will call another meeting on this matter when the situation changes for the better and something can be done on this matter."

The guild masters bowed and walked out of the council meeting chamber. Sting walked alongside Makarov stretching tired muscles. When they excited the room the light dragon slayer spoke.

"Finally! I thought it would never end."

"True, now I just need to go back to my guild and discipline Natsu for that repeat incident."

"Repeat incident?"

"That idiot read a spell that was on the request board again out loud. This time luckily he was the only one affected this time."

"Hahahaha…he didn't learn after doing something that stupid once?" Sting laughed. "That's Natsu's legendary stupidity for you."

Makarov smiled at him. "True. Ah, by the way I heard from Mira that he and Lucy apparently got drunk after they returned from the ruins and the next day they started dating. Mira mainly called to gripe about how getting them drunk was doing them a favor, but they pranked her, Canna, Gajeel and Levy for it then went on a weeklong mission together with Happy."

"Wait, so Natsu and the blond he's usually with are a thing now?"

"Yep."

"Geeze, almost thought he didn't have that in him."

"Feel free to drop by the guild and tease him about it, but we are going through the S class trials when I return so you might want to wait a few weeks.

"Ahhh, now that I think about it it's that time of year again. How long does your S trials last?"

"The longest is about a week, but this year I'm going to try to make it quicker and put a few wizards through as S class wizards. When we were trapped on Tenrou Island no S class wizard trial were held in seven years, and we haven't held any trials since. It's only fair that we make it so more pass though this time if they pass."

"How many are you putting through."

"I'm thinking of having the trial participants' team up this year then when the groups get narrowed down to six people top three become S class."

"So three then?"

"Yep."

"Who do you think will make it this year?"

"Natsu, Gray, and Lucy if they all make the list. Though if Gajeel gets in it will be a tossup between him, Lucy, and Gray."

"So it's guaranteed that Natsu would be S class."

"You kidding? That kid defeated Acnologia, and Zerif in battle. Our current SS class wizard Guildarts couldn't even put a scratch on Acnologia alone. If he doesn't manage to pass I'll dance naked on the guild stage."

"Hold it old man, don't do anything that crazy."

Makarov chuckled at the slayer's response.


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37**

Arra finished weaving her cloth roll. It was a pretty sky blue color, the same as the flowers she used to dye the thread. Now she just needed to sew it into sheets for their bed, and pillowcases. She could then collect more wool from that second herd of Elven sheep she found to make some blankets for the crib and baby cloths. She was thinking for the girls she would make a deep purple color with gold colored embroidery of a dragon on it. She also wanted to make some shirts and pants for her mate. His current ones were still a bit tattered from whatever battle he had fought recently. In fact he no longer was wearing a shirt at all. He just wore an old black cape instead of a shirt. She glanced over at the cloak now hanging on the wall. Acnologia left it behind when he went to go pick through the remainder of the ruins. She could tell it was rather tattered and had seen better days. She smiled as she thought. She could just make him a new one along with some shirts she knew there were a few black sheep in the second herd that would be perfect for him. His favorite color was black after all. She could embroider the hem and stitch it to match his wings when he transformed. Ideas poured into her head. She smiled thinking such things would surprise him and immediately got to work.

 _Later that evening…._

Acnologia walked into the house carrying some pieces of something and a few more pictures. He popped his head into the room Arra was spinning in. large piles of thread balls sprawled on the floor. A large loom was in the corner of the room. He set the bundles down and snuck up behind her. She was so lost in what she was making she hadn't noticed him come in. Crossing his arms around her shoulders he kissed her on the cheek earning a smile and a kiss on the lips when she turned towards him.

"Hey there stranger, what did you drag in today?" she said teasingly.

"I found some more pictures for you, and I found something I don't know if it's useful or not."

"Well I'll take a look then." She said putting down her finished thread.

As she looked over the object pieces he brought back she determined what he had found. Looking up at him she smiled again.

"This is part of a magical information codex. It has access to the information lacrama networks of all the three nations. This was commonly how the Elven stored and shared information between countries. By the look of it I might be able to get it working again. If one of the nations have theirs's in working order I might be able to recover the old records."

"What happens if they don't have one working?"

"Then this is basically just junk, at least till we set up a second codex in a location with books or other information it can transmit and catalog."

"What sort of building was this part of then?"

"It was common for a research facility or library, of course not everyone had access to it though. Restrictions were placed on some Codex's to prevent national secrets from getting out or stolen."

"Makes since."

Arra quickly put it together finding only three pieces were missing. Since they weren't there she could only do so much, but luckily they were easy to make and replace. Finished with the Codex she moved on to the pictures. She remembered them. She settled down with her mate on their bed and told him their story. After telling him she smirked impishly and swung her leg over top of him so she straddled him. She was in the mood to play again, and he wasn't getting out of it.


	38. Chapter 38

**Chapter 38**

Lucy was packing her bag again as Natsu looked over the requests. Destroying something and beating a monster on the way. His woman knew him too well. As she leaned over to grab something and he went behind her instinctually hugging her when she stood back up strait. Lucy squealed in surprise at first then turned and kissed him. He let out an almost feral growl showing just how much he felt like playing with her right now. That earned him a smack on the shoulder and getting called a sex addict by her making him laugh. He absolutely couldn't deny it though. She felt so good with her body to his. If she wasn't against having a family so young he wouldn't be holding back because they were just out of condoms to use. After packing they got on the train and went onward to their missions.

 _The following day…_

"So, what do you think?" Lucy said as they looked over the ship.

"I'm wondering if we just can't get it working again and give it to the council or the guild."

"I was actually thinking the same thing, or at least get it working long enough to fly it to Fairy Tail."

" Should we look inside?"

"Yeah."

Lucy and Natsu explored every inch of the ship. From what they could tell the only thing wrong with it was the fact that there was a large cracks in the power source tubes. They were made out of glass so if Natsu heated them right the ship should start working again with a little magic added in. He immediately got to work and Lucy went to look over the main control panel. After a little figuring and finagling the two of them got it up and running. Natsu waited outside the ship while Lucy got it air born in case some of the bottom hull fell off or got left behind. He confirmed that there wasn't any and Lucy helped him to the cockpit onboard. Half an hour of flight later they returned to Magnolia and gave the ship over to the guild and received their pay before returning to their home. Lucy Sent him ahead so she could stop by a store in town to get what she considered at this point a necessity. Hours later they were curled up together snoring on her bed naked.

 _At the guild hall…._

"So Mira any guesses on what those two are up to right now?"

"Canna, do you really need to ask?"

"Guess not. Hey wanna bet when those two tie the knot and have an extra passenger?"

"Two months tops for a wedding, and end of the year for the baby."

"Anyone else want to join in?"

"I'm in." yelled the rest of the guild.

"My money is on a month for both." Gray said.

 _Next day…_

Lucy opened her eyes to Natsu's broad chest rising and falling softly. It surprised her every time just how solid his abs were. His dragon down below got just as rock hard when he was turned on too. She shifted to move a little closer to him only to wince slightly from her now sore muscles. She hadn't minded so much when they were doing it, but now that she had cooled off he really did a number on her down there. It was amazing she could move even a little after how hard he pounded into her. The scary part was when he woke up and wanted to go again she was more than willing to let him. At the rate they were going they would become parents by next year if even one of the condoms broke. As if he could read her mind Natsu turned in his sleep and embraced her in his arms giving off a sleepy growl. Well she was screwed. He not only foiled her only chance to leave the bed, but had her pinned down so she couldn't move an inch. Well she better just accept the inevitable she thought to herself. Lucy settled down in his arms and drifted off to sleep once again.


	39. Chapter 39

**Chapter 39**

Arra purred against her mate contently as he let out a rumbling snore. Her hand moved down to cup her stomach as their children moved inside her. A smile spread across her face as she lovingly looked down. It wouldn't be much longer before they came into the world. She giggled happily before moving to get up. She paused momentarily to look over at her husband who continued to snore logs contently on the bed then moved to her workroom to continue working on the cloak for him. After finishing the material she grabbed a needle and thread and began to stitch the pieces together. At the same time she prepped some deep blue and gold thread for embroidery afterwards.

 _An hour later…._

Acnologia woke up and stretched out contently not wanting to move from the bed. He could hear Arra in the next room working quietly and the thought of dragging her back to cuddle was tempting, but he still didn't want to move overly much. It still amazed him how he could sleep through a full night without feeling restless or being plagued with memories from his past and the time he nearly lost her. It was clearly what he called the Arra effect. It still mystified him that he would be becoming a dad in a few months. He hoped that they would take after their mother in looks if at all possible they could meet others their age much more easily and avoid being blamed for his mistakes in life. He knew he couldn't keep them here on this island forever. They would want to go out to explore one day and they wouldn't be a child forever just like he wasn't. Thinking about his soon to be born daughters growing up and leaving him to go off on their own one day made him feel anxious and want his mate's comforting. He dragged himself out of the bed to seek her out. As he walked into the room he stopped at the door to watch her work. A few minutes later Arra looked up at him and smiled.

"I was wondering when you would wake up. Come here for a moment I need to check something for this."

"Alright." He said walking over to her.

Arra swung the cloth around him surprising him. As he looked around at the piece he realized it was a new cloak and smiled gently. She had made it to look just like his wings when spread wide, and it was far lighter than his old cloak. It was even more comfortable too.

"Can you move around in it a bit? I want to see if it pulls anywhere so I can fix it if it does."

He did as she asked. Arra watched him as he moved about and stretched. After a little bit she came up with a needle and thread to make a few stitches.

"There, all done."

Acnologia curled his arms around Arra and nuzzled her causing her to giggle.

"Don't be so happy about just a cloak Lolo, when I'm done you'll have a whole wardrobe to wear."

"You're making more?"

"Yep, I can't let my husband run around in tattered cloths all the time."

He looked down and realized for the first time that his cloths were rather worn out after four hundred years. He looked back up and grinned at her sheepishly. Arra smiled wirily at him with her impish smile. Acnologia smiled then thought of something and smirked.

"I kinda thought you prefer me without cloths though."

Arra gave him a surprised look at first, but burst out laughing. She then leaned towards him and kissed him.

"I do, but we can't run around in the nude all the time. We can't do it especially after the babies are born too."

"True." Acnologia said placing a hand over her stomach as he felt a soft thump against her belly. They sighed contently and curled up together happily.


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40**

Natsu cracked open his eyes and looked down at the warm body in his arms. He hummed happily and kissed her forehead. Lucy's eyes twitched a bit then fluttered open. She looked up at him and smiled sleepily.

"Morning."

"Mmhmm." He responded smiling before nuzzling her head.

"Wanna get up?"

"Sure, five more minutes though."

"Ok." Lucy said closing her eyes and snuggling into him.

"Hey Luce, move in with me."

It took a moment for what he said to register in her mind. Her face lit up bright red.

"Um, wha..." she sputtered surprised.

"I know not right away, but after the house is built."

Lucy buried her head in his chest right below his chin embarrassed. She was in a position Natsu could no longer look at her face, but he felt her head nod a yes against his skin. He burst out into his signature smile and held her tight against his body happily.

 _Half an hour later…_

The two mages were curled up together on Lucy's sofa looking over the rough home design Lucy drew up. Lucy every now and then would jot down a brief note by a room on the design. Natsu would every now and then say something that would make her giggle as he smiled. After jotting down the last note Lucy looked over the plan.

"Ok, I need to add a slightly larger fridge, a bit more space for the bedrooms, add two more bathrooms connected to two of the bedrooms, and add a hot tub out by the pool. Anything else you can think of?"

Natsu thought for a moment.

"What about a basement game room, with a bathroom down there along with some other rooms."

"That's a great idea." Lucy said jotting it down. "I'll go draw the changes right away, how about after we go to some stores to look at paint, flooring, and drop off the finished design with a contractor."

"Mmmm." Natsu said agreeing while burring his nose against her neck.

Lucy clunked him on the head teasingly and smiled.

 _The next day…_

Lucy and Natsu browsed through the flooring options. They had already decided on tile for the kitchen, bathrooms, and utility room. They were now looking at wood flooring for in the rest of the house. The contractor was arranging workers for construction and wanted the minor detail information before they reached that point. As they reached an agreement Lucy would fill out the order sheets. After selecting the floors they looked over the paint colors and wall papers. Happy's room of coarse had fish patterned wall paper. They decided real quickly to just go with white walls for now and paint later on as they went. After handing in the paperwork the contractor estimated the house would be done in about four to five months.

 _At the guild hall…_

Jason from sorcerer weekly popped in.

"Hey I'm stopping by to get an interview with Natsu and Lucy. Does anyone know where they are? I have the coolest news."

"Oh? What sort of news?" Conna asked.

"It's the coolest news, he was named most eligible wizard bachelor and I need a cool interview about his thoughts on that. To top off that coolness Lucy has been named most eligible bachelorette. "

"You're a little behind; those two started dating a few months already."

"You meant the coolest bachelor and the coolest bachelorette have hooked up?"

"Yep."

"Hold the interview. This news has cover story written all over. Cool!"

He ran out shortly after to announce the news.


	41. Chapter 41

**Chapter 41**

Acnologia ran about as Arra tried to calm him down. He raced back towards her with a basin of steaming water setting it down at her feet. He then panickly looked back and forth before running into the next room for blankets. Finally Arra managed to calm him enough to speak.

"Relax. It's just false contractions. They happen often in the last few months."

"So they're not coming?"

"Not yet."

He suddenly looked downcast as he held the blankets tightly. Arra smiled at him and grabbed his hand. Her eyes looked softly towards him as he moved towards her and curled around her.

"Looking forward to being called daddy already?"

"Mmm." He said nodding.

"Don't worry. They'll be coming in just a few short months no need to rush them."

"Mmm." He said nodding again.

"Want to think of some names for them to pass the time?"

He blinked surprised, but a smile spread across his face as he nodded again.

 _At the fairy tail guild hall…._

"So this is the prophecy you kids found?"

"Yes master. What do you think it means?"

"More than likely just what it says. I'll send a copy of this to the council and each of the other guilds. From the look of it we won't have any more issues with Acnologia as long as we stay out of each other's business. That is if he's with that dragon's child right now."

"So do we need to locate him just to confirm if he's with someone or not?"

"No, I don't think we do, but that's for the council to decide not us."

"Alright master I'll let everyone know."


	42. Chapter 42

**Chapter 42**

"Natsu want anything in particular for breakfast today?"

"I'm fine with anything as long as you make it Lucy." He said with his signature smile.

"Alright, I'll make sandwiches and a salad. After we eat we'd better head to the guild the master is supposed to be back today."

 _One hour later at the guild hall…._

Everyone in the guild was gathered for the master's announcement.

"Alright, quiet down."

Everyone continued to chat and discuss things.

" I SAID Quiet YOU BRATS!"

That shut everyone up. You couldn't even hear a cricket chirping.

"Ahem… I gathered everyone here for two reasons. First in regards to Acnologia resurfacing. He hasn't made any moves yet and the council decided to wait and see. Many guilds have yet to recover from the war so the priority is to get back to full strength before coming up with a plan of action. The second reason is to announce the restart of the annual S class wizard trials."

"Ohhhhh…." Everyone in the guild exclaimed in unison.

"To make up for all the years we missed having the trial I will allow for more than one wizard to pass this year. Also because more than one will be allowed to pass the trial will also be a little more difficult to accomplish. The wizards selected to participate are Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, Lucy, Mest, Canna, Elfman, Freed, Evergreen, Levy, Juvia, and Lizanna. Each of you selected I want you to pair up with each other this time. For the first part of the trial as tradition dictates we will go to Tenrou Island, but however to avoid the tragedy of last time we will only go and be there a day for a simple race the details I will explain as we arrive at the island. The second part of the trial will take place outside Magnolia to avoid damaging the town. While we are away the rest of the guild will be in charge of preparations with Mira. We head out tomorrow so please prepare well tonight."

Each of the participants grouped up together. Lucy and Natsu, Gray and Juvia, Gajeel and Levy, Mest and Canna, Elfman and Freed, and Evergreen and Lizanna. After grouping together and being congratulated they all rushed off to pack their things.

One week later at Tenrou Island….

"Natsu, you feeling ok?" Lucy said rubbing his back as he hurled over the edge of the ship.

"I'll be fine as soon as I get off this thing." He answered weakly.

Master Makarov looked over everyone to make sure they were paying attention.

"Alright this little race is going to be elimination round. Each of you simply need to race to the top of the island, find the basket of flags take one flag from the basket then come back to the ship. I warn you however there are only six flags, so if you don't get a flag you will have to fight one of the groups who do for a flag. As long as your group arrives at the ship with a flag you pass the first round. Erza is waiting by the basket she'll tell you what number you are to arrive at the flags. You are absolutely required to stop by at the flags before moving to try to obtain a flag from another group. There is no use of magic until you reach Erza as well, so on your mark, get set,…alright you kids go on now."

The first to reach the water was Gray and Juvia followed by Evergreen and Lizana. Lucy managed to drag Natsu overboard and they started to swim to land followed by the rest. The moment a group reached land the race was on. Lucy and Natsu reached the island in fourth place. The moment Natsu hit dry land he perked up immediately and grabbed Lucy in a princess carry. He took in a deep breath taking in all the scents around him.

"Lets with this thing Luce."

"Gahhhhh!" Lucy screamed as he took off full throttle shooting them all the way into second place.

Gray and Juvia who were running in first happened to glance back saw Natsu running at full speed towards them. Gray grabbed Juvia under one arm in that instant and shot forward even faster just as Natsu holding Lucy caught up.

"Out of my way Gray first place is ours."

"Not a chance fire breath. First place is ours and we're keeping it."

"No way stripper it's ours."

"Ours."

"OURS."

"OURS."

They started arguing back and forth all the way as they ran. Lucy and Juvia gave each other a smile that was asking each other why did these two have to argue with each other so childishly.

 _Back on the boat…_

"What are those two fools doing? Why do they need to make such a racket that can be heard way out here?" Master Makarov asked to no one in particular.

Erza looked straight ahead in a knightly stance sward planted firmly into the ground in front of her. A rumbling sound and the ground started to shake slightly suddenly came. Voices arguing were heard.

"OURS."

"OURS."

"OURS."

"OURSS...Ahh" Gray cried out as he tripped and fell into Natsu sending the group tumbling into a heap at Erza's feet.

"I WIN. NO YOU DIDN'T I DID."

"Erza tell this idiot I got here first already."

"No you didn't my foot was ahead of yours by a good five inches."

"You'll always be in first my book darling."

"Actually Natsu was moving slightly faster than Gray."

"Yeah."

"But after gray tripped and you all flew forward Lucy's foot was the closest to me so she arrived first, then was Gray and Juvia."

"See you weren't first idiot…wait…"

As Gray turned he saw Lucy with a flag running off with Natsu and holding a flag.

"When did that happen?"

"When you turned towards me asking me to confirm who was first, Lucy grabbed ahold of a flag, and right after Natsu cheered because I said he was faster Lucy grabbed his arm and dragged him off to head back to the ship."

"Crap, that means the idiot might get first."

"Don't worry my love I attained a flag of our own right here."

"Nice, then lets catch up to them fast."

Lucy and Natsu further ahead jumped off the cliff and Natsu used his fire to blast them towards the ship just as Gray caught up. Gray then used Ice make hang glider to head after them off the cliff safely with Juvia. At the end of the race Natsu and Lucy came in first, Gray and Juvia second and Mest and Canna in third in a surprise upset thanks to Mest's teleport ability. The master then sent up a flair signaling to everyone to return to the ship.

 _Sometime later back at the guild…._

"Alright the second part of the S class trials will take place tomorrow. It will be a tournament style battle top three become S class wizards. You'll draw numbers from this box here and that will decide who you're up against. Of course we'll find out who is the number one wizard of the S class trial just for fun, but as long as we're fighting we might as well do a brief ranking. See you kids tomorrow and good luck."

Natsu and Lucy went back to the house to rest.

"So who are you fighting Luce?"

"Looks like I'm up against Mest. You?"

"Canna."

"So that means its Gray vs Juvia in the last group."

"Ice prick's gonna be given the win."

"Yeah, but at least that means you're guaranteed to become S class."

"So how are you going to handle Mest? He can teleport after all."

"Taurus star dress."

"?!"

"Yep, against him I need to focus on brute force and not worry about speed."

"Ok, that's a fight I need to definitely see."

Lucy giggled at him. Natsu leaned back against the sofa stretching out, while Lucy curled up into him. They closed their eyes leaning into each other enjoying each other's warmth. Natsu rubbed Lucy's hand gently just enjoying touching her.


End file.
